Mass Effect Database masseffectdatabase_wiki https://masseffectdatabase.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Main_Page MediaWiki 1.35.13 first-letter Media Special Talk User User talk Mass Effect Database Mass Effect Database talk File File talk MediaWiki MediaWiki talk Template Template talk Help Help talk Category Category talk Module Module talk Gadget Gadget talk Gadget definition Gadget definition talk 0 1 1 2019-11-18T20:14:14Z Weetlebeex 30587485 Created page with "'''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human..." wikitext text/x-wiki '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead, having nearly sacrificed his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived... 8cfa722d1e39435acb8b402f3148f2b4eb3b3307 5 1 2019-11-19T05:28:46Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead, having nearly sacrificed his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived... cac7bf00fe76a779352b1e359a0d090f9c849d5a 6 5 2019-11-19T05:39:36Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 43853c6b40a12b0df4b5a2b40b8e25c001481a1c 13 6 2019-11-19T13:49:54Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == c8efa494aae894769abf5cf594b6cad35688df6d 14 13 2019-11-19T14:26:30Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* History */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born in the year 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, and used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat and vegetables for Alliance worlds. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm and the crops, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild animals. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 0120a1eb584ee400082f15bf98a81731f55bdf0f 15 14 2019-11-19T14:50:28Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* History */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born in the year 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, and used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat and vegetables for Alliance worlds. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm and the crops, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild animals. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or otherwise to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 58d42cc55a4ab63599efe9e924c1931bfc5667e1 16 15 2019-11-19T20:57:11Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Early Life */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born in the year 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, and used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or otherwise to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 90980895ed4244ef4e0578a929be7583928dab38 17 16 2019-11-19T21:23:00Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Raid on Mindoir */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born in the year 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, and used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or otherwise to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian deigned to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 83bfe7a4936aad107c233f674496de58dd3747b5 18 17 2019-11-20T15:46:52Z 96.255.164.119 0 /* Early Life */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born in the year 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or otherwise to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian deigned to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 8e7fe134f4013951f1a7c9341eab9f0d7378bd57 19 18 2019-11-20T15:49:02Z 96.255.164.119 0 /* The Raid on Mindoir */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born in the year 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian deigned to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 2d8b866469e6c160df21d616479b089a49ff81da 20 19 2019-11-20T15:50:46Z 96.255.164.119 0 /* The Raid on Mindoir */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born in the year 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 9006219f73fde71f3b3ce81c037068064d24411c 21 20 2019-11-20T16:00:16Z 96.255.164.119 0 /* The Raid on Mindoir */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born in the year 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Victor for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 19d29dbc2ea3f84b80961432513880e910a21d8c 22 21 2019-11-21T19:42:09Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* History */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born in the year 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He hardened his heart. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance came. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Beginning life in the Military === ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 1aac568062469160c93e0b709753f5caba70e36a 23 22 2019-11-21T20:02:38Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* History */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born in the year 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He hardened his heart. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance came. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Beginning life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == a78c7cede2da215e46abf1c341ca6ec02d7d7cbb 24 23 2019-11-22T14:22:02Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Beginning life in the Military */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born in the year 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He hardened his heart. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance came. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == b3cb9aa9cc32b111f23e1ef8ea0869c0d549d364 25 24 2019-11-22T14:43:19Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Early life in the Military */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born in the year 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He hardened his heart. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance came. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp. The Lone Wolf. Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts. The ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone and survive. ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 829186411d27c70a1f056a733497df71272daee3 26 25 2019-11-22T18:05:47Z Weetlebeex 30587485 Protected "[[Victor Shepard]]" ([Edit=Allow only administrators] (indefinite) [Move=Allow only administrators] (indefinite)) wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born in the year 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He hardened his heart. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance came. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp. The Lone Wolf. Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts. The ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone and survive. ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 829186411d27c70a1f056a733497df71272daee3 27 26 2019-11-22T18:10:40Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Raid on Mindoir */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born in the year 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He hardened his heart. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance came. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp. The Lone Wolf. Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts. The ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone and survive. ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 6613c5fc476b68e7f1d1b62fb1e46a2a89221d7c 28 27 2019-11-22T18:20:15Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Rescue by the Alliance */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born in the year 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He hardened his heart. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp. The Lone Wolf. Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts. The ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone and survive. ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 792b799392435912090a1deff0b7923285e59a77 29 28 2019-11-22T18:23:12Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Early life in the Military */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born in the year 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He hardened his heart. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts. The ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone and survive. ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == f97c36efe9a13b9a69b1ac7c20649cbab8a0b1c3 30 29 2019-11-22T18:24:27Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Early life in the Military */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born in the year 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He hardened his heart. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts. The ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone and survive. ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == a9941d44ea60a78b70040d2e441d178ba9c7ddc4 31 30 2019-11-22T18:25:09Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Early life in the Military */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born in the year 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He hardened his heart. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts. The ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 890f857247b968634aab0d00dce747b168ce881a 32 31 2019-11-23T04:03:45Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* History */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts. The ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. === Akuze === Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Night fell on the colony, and Shepard had begun nodding of to sleep, until he saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view it. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day. === Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral === ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == bfe4c6ba1a6c9a8eed4e917adab78ca5a9ea73b9 33 32 2019-11-23T04:05:16Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Early life in the Military */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. === Akuze === Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Night fell on the colony, and Shepard had begun nodding of to sleep, until he saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view it. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day. === Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral === ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == c365659a1d32aecc5fd01ab17f689bc3eb56b886 34 33 2019-11-23T04:11:13Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Akuze */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted its toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. === Akuze === Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Night fell on the colony, and Shepard had begun nodding of to sleep, until he saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view it. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day. === Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral === ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 55aff621ee4ba6ed0647916b0e06281d42fe31b3 35 34 2019-11-23T04:14:07Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. === Akuze === Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Night fell on the colony, and Shepard had begun nodding of to sleep, until he saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view it. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day. === Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral === ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == f1622068cff4c69a14c0d83c8fbfe9c06cc8758b 36 35 2019-11-24T21:31:25Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Akuze */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and lived in peace on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. === Akuze === Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day. === Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral === ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 9af711770d29900fc441b9c7af836b951550e72c 37 36 2019-11-24T21:34:39Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. === Akuze === Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day. === Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral === ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 143f84dfa3cc4b03e355a51a21873c7b40f0c7d7 38 37 2019-11-24T21:36:40Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* History */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. === Akuze === Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day. === Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral === ... === First Tour Aboard the SSV Normandy === ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 590ed839aff7b3c9835e6cb7557f39d24932d4cd 39 38 2019-11-25T03:57:56Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. === Akuze === Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. === Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral === The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky, scum." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. === First Tour Aboard the SSV Normandy === ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 9c4a1819f3bbb619f3b614ab18512769f8246b12 40 39 2019-11-25T04:35:12Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* History */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. === Akuze === Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. === Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral === The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky, scum." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. === First Tour Aboard the SSV Normandy === Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard this collaborative project between humans and turians. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man with such distinction as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Commander Shepard...let's see what we can find." ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 150c616b262662dff7e2af7cee7c0166e42c1eab 41 40 2019-11-25T04:36:26Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* First Tour Aboard the SSV Normandy */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. === Akuze === Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. === Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral === The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky, scum." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. === First Tour Aboard the SSV Normandy === Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard this collaborative project between humans and turians. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man with such distinction as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Commander Shepard...let's see what we can find." ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 4f42c70a332e78b2ded8cad3b3361bd14908cbb3 42 41 2019-11-25T04:37:37Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* First Tour Aboard the SSV Normandy */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. === Akuze === Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. === Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral === The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky, scum." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. === First Tour Aboard the SSV Normandy === Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard this collaborative project between humans and turians. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Commander Shepard...let's see what we can find." ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == e8f990cd1b4581e51a6d92cffe63dbca2ccd77ab 43 42 2019-11-26T13:47:31Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* First Tour Aboard the SSV Normandy */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. He attempted to bury these thoughts. And for the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn board by board, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. === Akuze === Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. === Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral === The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky, scum." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. === First Tour Aboard the SSV Normandy === Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard this collaborative project between humans and turians. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 36b84a1698af2f507a46b3d720746f29d20318e0 44 43 2019-11-26T13:54:27Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Early life in the Military */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. === Akuze === Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. === Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral === The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky, scum." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. === First Tour Aboard the SSV Normandy === Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard this collaborative project between humans and turians. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 98bcd7183ab7114bea4796d91cd1ad741b342f8e 45 44 2019-11-26T13:56:40Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. === Akuze === Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. === Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral === The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. === First Tour Aboard the SSV Normandy === Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard this collaborative project between humans and turians. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == a079d6895a3d07b81eb034536eb023aa33d4a10f 46 45 2019-11-26T14:22:28Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* First Tour Aboard the SSV Normandy */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. === Akuze === Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. === Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral === The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. === Aboard the SSV Normandy === Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard this collaborative project between humans and turians. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == d488e4ebd6da37670909d0db9cc4bf90205b7d38 47 46 2019-11-26T14:43:59Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* History */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. === Akuze === Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. === Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral === The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. === Aboard the SSV Normandy === Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == b1d1cd5320c6cee74f4a3f3f0ed4e619b7d078b6 48 47 2019-11-26T18:23:19Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* History */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Three years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. === Akuze === Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. === Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral === The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. === Aboard the SSV Normandy === Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth and found Nihlus' dead body. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == ec9e4c45e1218beaeccebaca379a7172e2caa0d4 49 48 2019-11-28T23:43:50Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Early Life === Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. === The Raid on Mindoir === Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. === Rescue by the Alliance === Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. === Early life in the Military === The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. === Akuze === Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. === Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral === The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. === Aboard the SSV Normandy === Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth and found Nihlus' dead body. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 2728f11c4a3669c2fe38d4cada984514db654327 50 49 2019-12-03T14:04:00Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* History */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === === Eden Prime === Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth and found Nihlus' dead body. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 8e8156c1823a956b0bb0efce0c5431fe1c79e93d 6 2 2 2019-11-19T05:05:27Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki Logo 83fce8327410848c9eb609acb21732c7c0fec96a 0 3 3 2019-11-19T05:05:35Z Weetlebeex 30587485 Created page with "[[File:Mel2.png|thumb]] The Mass Effect Database, repository for the stories, profiles of characters, and information on my own continuity of the Mass Effect universe." wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mel2.png|thumb]] The Mass Effect Database, repository for the stories, profiles of characters, and information on my own continuity of the Mass Effect universe. 4315237dd88a1a682e6388ef618e2c349695baaf 6 4 4 2019-11-19T05:26:50Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki Logo 83fce8327410848c9eb609acb21732c7c0fec96a 0 5 7 2019-11-19T05:41:48Z Weetlebeex 30587485 Created page with "'''Garrus Vakarian'''" wikitext text/x-wiki '''Garrus Vakarian''' f38a6d73efb22885eaeb7b5f2d5dea1e9f57b347 0 6 8 2019-11-19T05:42:11Z Weetlebeex 30587485 Created page with "'''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya'''" wikitext text/x-wiki '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' 76c48c4058759656b693cbb6fa46a3911412b73a 0 7 9 2019-11-19T05:42:30Z Weetlebeex 30587485 Created page with "'''Urdnot Wrex'''" wikitext text/x-wiki '''Urdnot Wrex''' c0d3327ceb030d9730f8678c9df3114bdf013196 0 8 10 2019-11-19T05:42:55Z Weetlebeex 30587485 Created page with "'''SSV Normandy'''" wikitext text/x-wiki '''SSV Normandy''' 272cd0de00ff746f4d8e6feb2155645f37892e11 0 9 11 2019-11-19T05:43:44Z Weetlebeex 30587485 Created page with "'''Liara T'soni'''" wikitext text/x-wiki '''Liara T'soni''' b684a930921966f468b18d5aa7fda5bd7b111848 6 10 12 2019-11-19T13:49:42Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki Insignia 0f023b7d55e251b2f3576e09d423cd3bf06cf8b1 0 1 51 50 2019-12-03T14:05:02Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* History */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth and found Nihlus' dead body. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 38f1bd996b6c09b83f57c9442b8c931c6fc95499 52 51 2019-12-03T14:06:07Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Origins */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth and found Nihlus' dead body. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == cb5d0b2fbdba25f169d15ab54f46c365fe58449c 53 52 2019-12-03T14:14:23Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Shepard on the Citadel */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth and found Nihlus' dead body. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == ee2f0e378648d8a378cafa3f53dbcfd91d313ea0 54 53 2019-12-03T14:17:36Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Eden Prime */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 6a411495581a7d01fc7aff0b2006a38453e92cec 55 54 2019-12-03T14:47:36Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Eden Prime War */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning expression as a turian is capable of delivering. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's dream, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 48923cb809f0cca25560904b4668810138a62091 56 55 2019-12-05T20:08:31Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Shepard on the Citadel */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's dream, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == == Relationships == == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == f5051fc0cef591ca83527651cabc527ba4da6cc1 57 56 2019-12-07T01:53:53Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Relationships */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's dream, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Ann Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == ee5a727fe87e555ad0a68d034fd405228cab0604 59 57 2019-12-11T04:07:23Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect (3).png|thumb|Victor Shepard, Wolf of the Alliance, Captain of the Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's dream, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Ann Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 5beaf2c6a78dab060921881f5c781cdbb1a3335e 60 59 2019-12-11T04:08:16Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect (3).png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's dream, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Ann Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 6d80fc65473255eaaf6e84fda2cc1b35c6376e06 61 60 2019-12-11T15:26:53Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Early Life in the Military */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect (3).png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away it. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was beautiful, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. It was just then that the dropship arrived, and took up the trainees to be debriefed. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's dream, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Ann Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == c1adb352316caff94dbbcdeefab4c99686de6d3a 62 61 2019-12-11T15:32:36Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Early Life in the Military */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect (3).png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away it. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was beautiful, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You idiot. I can just shoot you." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's dream, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Ann Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 5e9367a39748998e8ec23b597d1a59b5bb8a87bf 63 62 2019-12-11T15:34:50Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect (3).png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away it. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was beautiful, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's dream, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Ann Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 27e11388609dbdd610a0b7773cc2fec9837661b8 65 63 2019-12-12T12:42:17Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away it. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was beautiful, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's dream, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Ann Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 38fd1f7b676d36d3c3a913647b67681debe7275b 66 65 2019-12-12T12:43:21Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Relationships */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away it. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was beautiful, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's dream, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 9a93f5753ed087d253d7686c6c2946a9118171be 67 66 2020-01-27T23:56:49Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Early Life in the Military */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away it. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was beautiful, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's dream, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 6dc712a51523717df7502098524df5e1af2280a7 68 67 2020-01-27T23:58:13Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Early Life in the Military */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was beautiful, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's dream, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 49cb852ba018327a12e7fa906abf4badb7974f1d 69 68 2020-01-27T23:59:21Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Early Life in the Military */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, bloodying him even further and rendering him unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's dream, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 6654cdf9b72be0ef27a4f848df92e58dc5c899d2 70 69 2020-01-28T00:13:48Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Raid on Mindoir */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? It's been so long already?" Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you've gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's dream, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 312d47a2796d11a4ed6c5b2e5a84954320e9ab3f 71 70 2020-01-28T00:24:03Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you'd just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's dream, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 1b0d53ed21293ae42f0231bf3fa79a510881e889 72 71 2020-01-28T00:25:14Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "You don't have anything I want, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's dream, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 6b6e38360e9b93d8f615f8c8f1bec82ba5df19ad 73 72 2020-01-28T00:30:17Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's dream, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == ba353c18f6f0b69e1784f361d1f9b616b96493ac 74 73 2020-01-28T00:46:36Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Shepard on the Citadel */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == a845433bc32a8dcd48738208e199e765d93e0fa9 75 74 2020-02-10T19:22:52Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Personality */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April the 11th 2151 on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans, used as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 54fcebc13f0c8011fdfb2d7dc8fedb0949da0265 76 75 2020-03-10T20:16:00Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Early Life */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Avenger rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts of slugs. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == d146ed125050dc29f1886c2b33ce5d164174bab2 77 76 2020-03-11T14:50:49Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Avatar of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 68cc0db2754318dceee3969522155b50f3cb0e0e 78 77 2020-03-12T05:22:19Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. "Then we need to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 17cc6454fddd133200c12f3f9a344923371e2ff7 79 78 2020-03-12T05:27:15Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Shepard on the Citadel */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue."Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 79964e65c55090c34e8453a2a0a819b1819d15e7 80 79 2020-03-12T05:27:41Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Shepard on the Citadel */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. The four made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard, Garrus and the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his action against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she could take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought an end to Saren's wicked deeds. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 00e4e3bd894864c778000fb787ff4eda5b886373 81 80 2020-03-12T05:38:13Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Shepard on the Citadel */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == bd507f7c90d128c29610f5f595a08bb027c53d74 82 81 2020-03-12T05:39:38Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* History */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." She introduced herself as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 3c96e497654d9d154e0e00bbe22ea008a0ab27f8 83 82 2020-03-12T16:17:22Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 256753b64744ac7dc422f230a5d567a522418ec3 84 83 2020-03-12T16:19:17Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Becoming a Spectre */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 81775103d10e4d341b4157ad6b7e9aae4414a29d 85 84 2020-03-12T16:52:52Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Becoming a Spectre */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You'd think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmm. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Mission to Feros ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == e359e71a0bca96f5d0abe9b033f82dd0c4d07107 86 85 2020-03-12T16:53:19Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Becoming a Spectre */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You'd think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmm. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Mission to Feros ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 4b2c9ac531ead104fbff863d5125caafd1ac5494 97 86 2020-03-13T06:16:22Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Becoming a Spectre */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends Garrus Vakarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and Urdnot Wrex, stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmm. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Mission to Feros ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 598b425911f38ae3b694ebe45eb0f5299345f7a9 98 97 2020-03-14T15:42:14Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the SSV Normandy, and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmm. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Mission to Feros ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 1610e49f56ad32d9a7821856c89637d6175f97b5 99 98 2020-03-14T15:42:51Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmm. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Mission to Feros ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == f20df8dbaceb264144a4f7de16faf05842d01b99 100 99 2020-03-14T16:41:44Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Becoming a Spectre */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Mission to Feros ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == f436fee5d0213b9e8b36e1a86129fb9d05538592 6 11 58 2019-12-11T04:06:41Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki Victor Shepard 8672525f6cbdf09e7ca3fe7ca443df0b6f27948b 6 12 64 2019-12-12T12:42:02Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki Victor Shepard 8672525f6cbdf09e7ca3fe7ca443df0b6f27948b 6 13 87 2020-03-13T05:55:08Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki Garrus Vakarian, former C-sec Officer, later known as military commander of Palaven's Army. Hero of the Galaxy. 6d111449bd737a83d861a93dacc29237be093ec7 0 5 88 7 2020-03-13T05:55:36Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:C09.png|thumb]] '''Garrus Vakarian''', also known as '''Archangel''' 3b563115e59d1259ae55d99b21fac1e1248d684a 94 88 2020-03-13T06:06:13Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:C09.png|thumb|Garrus Vakarian, former C-sec Officer, later known as military commander of Palaven's Army, and Hero of the Galaxy. ]] '''Garrus Vakarian''', also known as '''Archangel''' 172053e558f82f05b308f9326b634f1acfb5e044 6 14 89 2020-03-13T05:56:56Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, senior engineer of the SSV Normandy, later known as Admiral of the Migrant Fleet. Hero of the Galaxy. 2c6777d611eb46c80c2a8f561ac8f987ecbf5e31 0 6 90 8 2020-03-13T05:57:21Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Tz.png|thumb]] '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''', also known as '''Miss Vas Normandy''' d0ad2d222e55d6141293d0be2a4ecbf6229ef088 91 90 2020-03-13T06:02:16Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Tz.png|thumb] Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, senior engineer of the SSV Normandy, later known as Admiral of the Migrant Fleet. Hero of the Galaxy. ] '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''', also known as '''Miss Vas Normandy''' a026c77ad062b4fd82caf7832887d9ccc2e58191 92 91 2020-03-13T06:04:34Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Tz.png|thumb]] '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''', also known as '''Miss Vas Normandy''' d0ad2d222e55d6141293d0be2a4ecbf6229ef088 93 92 2020-03-13T06:05:04Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Tz.png|thumb|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, senior engineer of the SSV Normandy, later known as Admiral of the Migrant Fleet, and Hero of the Galaxy. ]] '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''', also known as '''Miss Vas Normandy''' 352b95b6fef0560b7eb5ea56558b2bc35e1ce49e 6 15 95 2020-03-13T06:13:46Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki Urdnot Wrex 95311dfbb80cd401f7679af2aa18ff6cf4038439 0 7 96 9 2020-03-13T06:14:34Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Uw.png|thumb|Urdnot Wrex, former mercenary, later known as Chieftain of Clan Urdnot, uniter of the krogan clans, and Hero of the Galaxy.]] '''Urdnot Wrex''' 8c14d1531a309badc48f99ee080258ccf84e3528 0 1 101 100 2020-03-14T17:13:55Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Mission to Feros */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Mission to Feros ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. You're fit to take over." ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == cef50ada1e4b927114e6b7add29235a499e2762e 102 101 2020-03-14T17:17:35Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Shepard on the Citadel */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard. "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Mission to Feros ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. You're fit to take over." ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 6c0b1814715658943c184f8ac50571c0c78a487d 103 102 2020-03-14T17:18:00Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Shepard on the Citadel */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Mission to Feros ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. You're fit to take over." ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 1cdf7428927ccf77956a1ee7e8dc340fed5123f7 104 103 2020-03-14T17:30:19Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Mission to Feros */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. You're fit to take over." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == a671e73667abd73714a278b5daeba495865056e8 105 104 2020-03-14T18:08:18Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Hunt for Saren Begins */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, expressing gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that rendered their females practically sterile. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Enginner Daniels. == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 63edf08359df594c9fe1abb39d4163f91183714d 106 105 2020-03-14T18:37:58Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Hunt for Saren Begins */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, expressing gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that rendered their females practically sterile. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, and mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == beef8747bd6feab11d72c6d44f41ea6414c5e9cf 107 106 2020-03-14T18:38:41Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Hunt for Saren Begins */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, expressing gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that rendered their females practically sterile. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == d9249b772535e01acdce0d36fef00533635e3f53 108 107 2020-03-14T18:39:58Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Hunt for Saren Begins */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, expressing gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 5eef0095f675617359d53a49c26ed30fb448c37a 109 108 2020-03-15T14:27:45Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Hunt for Saren Begins */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 4d6a0cadb59f376f07013ce8831fd554adc04add 110 109 2020-03-15T15:43:00Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Feros */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were able to move on, and make for Zhu's Hope, to deal with the Thorian. == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 43abdb03df252f5907a849561172707960f7c765 111 110 2020-03-15T18:54:18Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Feros */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to to something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced either. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == e120bc9020f9a6355864c33923b1379b91991fb1 112 111 2020-03-15T18:54:56Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Feros */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to to something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced either. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == ae1fccf36f937db336e4f142dff8f4040acb2edd 113 112 2020-03-15T18:56:45Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Feros */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to to something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced either. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == fe4db3ec27f3e117d169a3882deb18ffa6fb7fa2 114 113 2020-03-15T20:10:50Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Hunt Continues */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to to something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced either. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, eagerly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and pay, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 4c01d8893f3af76baa0b0d70f45886f3a9e05bbf 115 114 2020-03-16T14:31:39Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Hunt Continues */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to to something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced either. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== ... ==== Noveria ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Shepard was kind at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == c8c8f785777d7584e72a0455b69de08cbddbb31b 116 115 2020-03-16T19:00:33Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Personality */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a real prothean beacon. I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to to something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced either. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== ... ==== Noveria ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 6ae4cca25dc8c48379d86f4790dc26836373c5b7 117 116 2020-03-17T13:47:50Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Eden Prime */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard proclaimed, and the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to to something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced either. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== ... ==== Noveria ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 54c16743996df75f5ca50c022647cbc820397426 118 117 2020-03-17T13:48:36Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Eden Prime */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian woman Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to to something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced either. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== ... ==== Noveria ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == d722a180fb51cefbbf676eee6ed19d79c4ba4c6e 119 118 2020-03-17T13:49:34Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Becoming a Spectre */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to to something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced either. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== ... ==== Noveria ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 46dd4eea20e9a5611451e07506c1d46cfa3fc80e 120 119 2020-03-17T13:52:57Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Becoming a Spectre */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to to something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced either. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== ... ==== Noveria ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 0018b9c5db1018d090aeae8cf084c7e029fa7b8f 121 120 2020-03-17T13:54:32Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Becoming a Spectre */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to to something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced either. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== ... ==== Noveria ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 57e62f7602313bdd8c9e7ec7ec9f48d5c678a6bf 122 121 2020-03-17T13:57:17Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Becoming a Spectre */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to to something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced either. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== ... ==== Noveria ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == e84ff5c7520dbd11839ad62c140f62d8e9b9f10c 123 122 2020-03-17T14:07:20Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Feros */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to to something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced either. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== ... ==== Noveria ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 1b17693ea340787ae405f3458af1b543efeba5e3 124 123 2020-03-17T14:10:08Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Feros */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== ... ==== Noveria ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 7f3c330ed1facdff3afd82a8f56199f6fe467052 125 124 2020-03-17T14:44:37Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Hunt Continues */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== ... ==== Noveria ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 384282c4c5c2b59423526e82a0929c51a641c5ab 126 125 2020-03-18T03:57:51Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Hunt Continues */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== ... ==== Noveria ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 3fb40ce95c5e38593e13136de45955cf29427f52 127 126 2020-03-18T04:21:04Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Helping Friends */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause though. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice, take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." ... ==== Noveria ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == cc1bf8c5878fbd2350ca9cb64e588c58267528ad 128 127 2020-03-18T05:04:25Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Helping Friends */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause though. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. ... ==== Noveria ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 16c92fb082b95bb9fc5813499b5ad279032473c0 129 128 2020-03-20T15:57:30Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Helping Friends */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. ... ==== Noveria ==== ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == bcc704e484602b0d8007b72272862f5c38523d19 130 129 2020-03-22T14:39:06Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Noveria */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." The security officer stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard shook his head, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the officer began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == f23af2d49264ef27354c9e4cf2b345a201fff0ae 131 130 2020-03-22T14:56:41Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Noveria */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." The security officer stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard shook his head, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the officer began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Shepard turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan grumbled. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == a363abb17e78b7e0adf7265a873b683649a85871 132 131 2020-03-22T14:57:55Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Noveria */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." The security officer stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard shook his head, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the officer began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Shepard turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 3481b2821206d50736cb4a76bfba58352c2332fe 133 132 2020-03-22T18:40:17Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Noveria */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." The security officer stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard shook his head, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the officer began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard' attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 7088cf0351165d15e5501ec2ac671fb0a4faa636 134 133 2020-03-22T18:42:07Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Noveria */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." The security officer stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard shook his head, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the officer began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 04fe9cffedd5abfe79ebdf5cfaf2cca4c5188c84 135 134 2020-03-22T18:44:00Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Noveria */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." The security officer stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard shook his head, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the officer began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 1ddef1d65a38ceef30a7bbb0a5b42328352aab2d 136 135 2020-03-22T18:44:36Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Helping Friends */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." The security officer stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard shook his head, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the officer began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 1da9c05ea6577d8c474097bf9fad3bc890d7d7dd 137 136 2020-03-22T18:45:28Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Hunt Continues */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." The security officer stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard shook his head, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the officer began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 01fa7588f48811ac984d54233e07ecd84717c759 138 137 2020-03-28T15:38:12Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Noveria */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == f4a1289861fdc032d84a7aaad3b8a313f5804791 139 138 2020-03-28T15:47:42Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Noveria */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he needed to be, and a natural-born leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == d2f04e041513e08958672e4335d04e72d399f56f 140 139 2020-04-05T04:42:17Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Early Life */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the last breaths left his mother and father, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 3acbcdc8692415fab4cddc93a58f3b8392060480 141 140 2020-04-05T04:52:18Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Raid on Mindoir */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large farm that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 81c70b2a19da155e6f5a4630b4a366b374f180c0 142 141 2020-04-05T04:53:46Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Rescue by the Alliance */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == cd78800634cf4eae991af0dbe936344d42c97d7d 143 142 2020-04-05T05:14:38Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Akuze */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and sliced into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast, hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 37dcb59ac9823d07cfb363ad32748d70543aaa41 144 143 2020-04-05T05:17:51Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Akuze */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now. But not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. It'd have made things much less complicated." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 9bd29e6313cfbff9b538043dbecadc102ca06476 145 144 2020-04-05T05:25:17Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worth of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 3846adc3c7e109ac47642b64af74fbeae50db76f 146 145 2020-04-05T05:32:42Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Aboard the SSV Normandy */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named Captain. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 67dfa7dd343b39382b10d7b2de5d695ac34ef094 147 146 2020-04-05T05:33:54Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Aboard the SSV Normandy */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. Let's move out." Shepard responded, and they moved on. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station. "Then that's where we need to go." Shepard said with cool determination, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they took note of several large bombs primed to detonate. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. We're ready for pickup." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley approached the beacon. "Wow, a working piece of prothean technology...I wonder if it still works?" As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, holding her in place and beginning to levitate her. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == cd292b00e1437ff3d86f4d60cf3981eaf3126863 148 147 2020-05-10T16:32:40Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Eden Prime */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. What about everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity as he was unconscious. Shepard then replied that he had been dreaming. He explained what he saw, a vision of some kind, depicting horrific images. It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "Then I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. Shepard was not convinced. He wasn't sure they'd believe them. Anderson then thought to use Shepard's vision as evidence. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == e67d7ee3a805c5e69ca327cfcdbdd14abf496adb 149 148 2020-05-10T16:41:48Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Shepard on the Citadel */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily and surprised. The quarian then thanked Shepard for his help in the fight, and asked who he was. "I'm Commander Shepard. I'm here to help you. Are you all right, are you hurt?" The quarian offered a small laugh, explaining that she knew how to take care of herself. "Still," she said, "I'm grateful for your help." Introducing herself as Tali, Shepard explained that he needed her help, that the information she carried with her would help them bring down Saren. Tali agreed to help, she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == bc70240d45574773096e451f8950feeae8527d08 150 149 2020-05-13T18:28:09Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Shepard on the Citadel */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, Tali, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence Tali possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 19f285bbe0414d6076a0b54816a24e95e7b82055 0 1 151 150 2020-05-13T18:28:46Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Shepard on the Citadel */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing Tali from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver Tali's evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Garrus and Tali followed to the Council chamber soon after. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community. Outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 7ba644a89515cfffbde7eaf106213ab66c3dc863 152 151 2020-05-13T18:43:46Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Becoming a Spectre */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "I was doing my job." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my contract. My credits. And you took it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? What stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly. He could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is state-of-the-art, the only one of its kind. Cutting-edge technology." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and their engineering, and the quarian people. Shepard was more than curious about her people, and Tali regailed the Commander about her people, their government, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == b481954583702a67ff94b37deac47ce1d6c01dde 153 152 2020-05-13T18:51:54Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Hunt for Saren Begins */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard has a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 9edf5d82d03731523f0454314bfba2adcaf9f368 154 153 2020-05-13T18:54:01Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Feros */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as is his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher as well in order to stop Saren. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the Protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical should take a look at you." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 8bab0c10d75ee6daae2f0dc2c418ae0ed605ecb8 155 154 2020-05-13T19:10:46Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Feros */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as was his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher, which, she explained, was essentially the knowledge associated with being a prothean - culture, understanding, senses. Shiala described the Cipher's importance - it was necessary to make sense of the knowledge contained in the prothean beacon, and it was also contained the knowledge of how to Saren planned to unleash the Reapers. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher, no matter the cost. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, advanced machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical needs to know about this." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 94792ec102fc55c61a278be1d2e374c292371425 156 155 2020-05-13T19:11:42Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Feros */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as was his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher, which, she explained, was essentially the knowledge associated with being a prothean - culture, understanding, senses. Shiala described the Cipher's importance - it was necessary to make sense of the knowledge contained in the prothean beacon, and it also contained the knowledge of how to Saren planned to unleash the Reapers. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher, no matter the cost. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, advanced machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical needs to know about this." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to wait, that's all." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "That's how we'll do it." Shepard said, "We'll beat him at his own game." And Shepard meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do." Wrex then mused about how he was pleased at this, because knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex then revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day, he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. Shepard raised a brow, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni, who was taking part in a dig somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for this area of the galaxy. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the Artemis Tau cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where foot travel only would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad needed to descend through the use of a few elevators to make their way down through the digsite, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew it instantly - Dr. T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Nomandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == f12622f7fc8af4035d814435cb46a557b5c2b7f1 157 156 2020-05-16T02:50:10Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Hunt Continues */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as was his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher, which, she explained, was essentially the knowledge associated with being a prothean - culture, understanding, senses. Shiala described the Cipher's importance - it was necessary to make sense of the knowledge contained in the prothean beacon, and it also contained the knowledge of how to Saren planned to unleash the Reapers. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher, no matter the cost. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, advanced machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical needs to know about this." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to be patient." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. Kaidan then also reminded Shepard that they had another lead, the asari Dr. Liara T'soni, daughter of Benezia, who was somewhere in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Shepard agreed, and realizing that in order to go up against the Matriarch, her daughter could be useful indeed. He decided that this was their next target. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "We'll beat him at his own game. It's the only way to beat someone like him." Shepard said with certainty. And he meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do. Saren's good. But I'm better." Wrex retorted, "Good? He's rotten to the core." The grizzled krogan began to explain how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day; how he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but from Wrex's testimony, he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. "The ship is so quiet...how do you sleep at night?" She asked, with genuine curiosity. Shepard couldn't help but be amused at this, she clearly wasn't joking. It was actually pretty cute, Shepard thought. He discussed her issue with her, raising a brow inquisitively, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. Shepard nodded, understandingly. He knew the feeling. "You're homesick." Shepard said. Tali nodded ponderously. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where only foot travel would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad descended through the use of a few elevators, making their way down through the dig site, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew instantly - Dr. Liara T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Normandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan just grumbled in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 73a4406353f2d8425037101ac2044876ddc38bfc 158 157 2020-05-16T03:02:19Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Noveria */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as was his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher, which, she explained, was essentially the knowledge associated with being a prothean - culture, understanding, senses. Shiala described the Cipher's importance - it was necessary to make sense of the knowledge contained in the prothean beacon, and it also contained the knowledge of how to Saren planned to unleash the Reapers. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher, no matter the cost. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, advanced machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical needs to know about this." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to be patient." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. Kaidan then also reminded Shepard that they had another lead, the asari Dr. Liara T'soni, daughter of Benezia, who was somewhere in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Shepard agreed, and realizing that in order to go up against the Matriarch, her daughter could be useful indeed. He decided that this was their next target. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "We'll beat him at his own game. It's the only way to beat someone like him." Shepard said with certainty. And he meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do. Saren's good. But I'm better." Wrex retorted, "Good? He's rotten to the core." The grizzled krogan began to explain how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day; how he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but from Wrex's testimony, he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. "The ship is so quiet...how do you sleep at night?" She asked, with genuine curiosity. Shepard couldn't help but be amused at this, she clearly wasn't joking. It was actually pretty cute, Shepard thought. He discussed her issue with her, raising a brow inquisitively, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. Shepard nodded, understandingly. He knew the feeling. "You're homesick." Shepard said. Tali nodded ponderously. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where only foot travel would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad descended through the use of a few elevators, making their way down through the dig site, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew instantly - Dr. Liara T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Normandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. (finishing post-mission discussion) ... ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan grumbled loudly in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 7a8a6a69642a7a83fc198b5130500b2528290720 159 158 2020-05-19T02:26:18Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Hunt Continues */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as was his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher, which, she explained, was essentially the knowledge associated with being a prothean - culture, understanding, senses. Shiala described the Cipher's importance - it was necessary to make sense of the knowledge contained in the prothean beacon, and it also contained the knowledge of how to Saren planned to unleash the Reapers. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher, no matter the cost. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, advanced machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical needs to know about this." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to be patient." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. Kaidan then also reminded Shepard that they had another lead, the asari Dr. Liara T'soni, daughter of Benezia, who was somewhere in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Shepard agreed, and realizing that in order to go up against the Matriarch, her daughter could be useful indeed. He decided that this was their next target. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "We'll beat him at his own game. It's the only way to beat someone like him." Shepard said with certainty. And he meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do. Saren's good. But I'm better." Wrex retorted, "Good? He's rotten to the core." The grizzled krogan began to explain how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day; how he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but from Wrex's testimony, he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. "The ship is so quiet...how do you sleep at night?" She asked, with genuine curiosity. Shepard couldn't help but be amused at this, she clearly wasn't joking. It was actually pretty cute, Shepard thought. He discussed her issue with her, raising a brow inquisitively, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. Shepard nodded, understandingly. He knew the feeling. "You're homesick." Shepard said. Tali nodded ponderously. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where only foot travel would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad descended through the use of a few elevators, making their way down through the dig site, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew instantly - Dr. Liara T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Normandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. Liara went on to explain that even though little information remained on the protheans, even less remained on their predecessors. This was frustrating for her, making it nearly impossible for her and her scientific methods to determine what exactly happened to them. This was a striking moment for Shepard, when he realized that what he held in his brain, what was given to him by the prothean beacon on Eden Prime, was knowledge unknown to even leading scientists. He needed to share it. When Liara had finished explaining her understandings, Shepard proclaimed what he knew. "I think I can help you there, Dr. T'soni. I know what happened to the protheans. They didn't just disappear, they were wiped out, by a race of advanced machines called the Reapers." Liara's eyes widened, and she tilted her head inquisitively, "The...the Reapers? I've never heard of them. How do you know this?" Shepard responded, "I interacted with a damaged prothean beacon from Eden Prime. It showed me...images...of the protheans fate. I saw their destruction by the Reapers." Liara was flabbergasted, completely taken aback. She could scarcely believe it, and when Shepard mentioned the cipher that helped him understand the visions better, Liara was even more curious with knowing that another asari, Shiala from Feros, bestowed it upon him. Finally understanding why Saren and the geth wanted her dead, Liara realized that she too could help Shepard understand the visions better using her own mind-melding ability. Liara requested to perform the same action on Shepard. Shepard was beyond fed up with Saren, and was ready to hunt him down and catch him, once and for all. If this could help him along to that goal, he would do it, regardless of the risks. He agreed to let Liara interface with his mind. As they did, Liara came into contact with the exact same visions Shepard had held in his brain for weeks now. Once the mind-melding was complete, Liara almost fell over but steadied herself. Liara explained to Shepard that she now believed him. She also complimented him, describing his immense strength of will in order to bear that burden the way he did. Shepard was flattered, but he didn't consider it an accomplishment. He was a soldier, a soldier who had seen so many haunting sights and had to live with them. This was just another thing. Or so he thought. Unfortunately, Liara confessed to receiving nothing substantial from the visions themselves, it was all still foggy, and she herself was not well after the mind-melding. Shepard and Kaidan advised that she see Doctor Chakwas. Shepard asked if she was alright, and Liara explained that she would be, with some bedrest and proper nutrition. Shepard was relieved. He didn't want her to come to harm over something like this. "Go ahead and see the doctor, Liara." Shepard turned to the rest of his crew. "The rest of you are dismissed." As his team got up and began returning to their stations, Joker once again offered to patch Shepard through to the Council. He agreed once more to update them on the situation. Once Shepard had established comms with the Council, they questioned if he was taking the proper security precautions with Dr. T'soni. Shepard saw where this was going. "Liara isn't a security threat. She's on our side." The Council stated that they hoped he was right. The turian councilor then questioned Shepard's execution of the mission, asking if the destruction of the prothean ruins on Therum was truly necessary. It took a lot of effort for Shepard to not disconnect the call at such a question, but being a truthful man, he plainly stated that the ruins were overrun with Saren's forces. There was no other way. The salarian councilor agreed with his assessment. After the Council's approval of the mission, the call was ended. Shepard had not assisted the colonists on Feros and rescued Dr. T'soni from her perilous fate. What remained now, was to head to the corporation world of Noveria, and investigate an alleged geth presence there, and the second biggest fish of the mission, the Matriarch Benezia. ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan grumbled loudly in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == a8206faa2e7e921cb900c17e28dcf1f9662654b0 160 159 2020-05-19T02:28:08Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* The Hunt Continues */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as was his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher, which, she explained, was essentially the knowledge associated with being a prothean - culture, understanding, senses. Shiala described the Cipher's importance - it was necessary to make sense of the knowledge contained in the prothean beacon, and it also contained the knowledge of how to Saren planned to unleash the Reapers. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher, no matter the cost. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, advanced machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical needs to know about this." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to be patient." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. Kaidan then also reminded Shepard that they had another lead, the asari Dr. Liara T'soni, daughter of Benezia, who was somewhere in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Shepard agreed, and realizing that in order to go up against the Matriarch, her daughter could be useful indeed. He decided that this was their next target. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "We'll beat him at his own game. It's the only way to beat someone like him." Shepard said with certainty. And he meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do. Saren's good. But I'm better." Wrex retorted, "Good? He's rotten to the core." The grizzled krogan began to explain how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day; how he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but from Wrex's testimony, he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. "The ship is so quiet...how do you sleep at night?" She asked, with genuine curiosity. Shepard couldn't help but be amused at this, she clearly wasn't joking. It was actually pretty cute, Shepard thought. He discussed her issue with her, raising a brow inquisitively, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. Shepard nodded, understandingly. He knew the feeling. "You're homesick." Shepard said. Tali nodded ponderously. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where only foot travel would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad descended through the use of a few elevators, making their way down through the dig site, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew instantly - Dr. Liara T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Normandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. Liara went on to explain that even though little information remained on the protheans, even less remained on their predecessors. This was frustrating for her, making it nearly impossible for her and her scientific methods to determine what exactly happened to them. This was a striking moment for Shepard, when he realized that what he held in his brain, what was given to him by the prothean beacon on Eden Prime, was knowledge unknown to even leading scientists. He needed to share it. When Liara had finished explaining her understandings, Shepard proclaimed what he knew. "I think I can help you there, Dr. T'soni. I know what happened to the protheans. They didn't just disappear, they were wiped out, by a race of advanced machines called the Reapers." Liara's eyes widened, and she tilted her head inquisitively, "The...the Reapers? I've never heard of them. How do you know this?" Shepard responded, "I interacted with a damaged prothean beacon from Eden Prime. It showed me...images...of the protheans fate. I saw their destruction by the Reapers." Liara was flabbergasted, completely taken aback. She could scarcely believe it, and when Shepard mentioned the cipher that helped him understand the visions better, Liara was even more curious with knowing that another asari, Shiala from Feros, bestowed it upon him. Finally understanding why Saren and the geth wanted her dead, Liara realized that she too could help Shepard understand the visions better using her own mind-melding ability. Liara requested to perform the same action on Shepard. Shepard was beyond fed up with Saren, and was ready to hunt him down and catch him, once and for all. If this could help him along to that goal, he would do it, regardless of the risks. He agreed to let Liara interface with his mind. As they did, Liara came into contact with the exact same visions Shepard had held in his brain for weeks now. Once the mind-melding was complete, Liara almost fell over but steadied herself. Liara explained to Shepard that she now believed him. She also complimented him, describing his immense strength of will in order to bear that burden the way he did. Shepard was flattered, but he didn't consider it an accomplishment. He was a soldier, a soldier who had seen so many haunting sights and had to live with them. This was just another thing. Or so he thought. Unfortunately, Liara confessed to receiving nothing substantial from the visions themselves, it was all still foggy, and she herself was not well after the mind-melding. Shepard and Kaidan advised that she see Doctor Chakwas. Shepard asked if she was alright, and Liara explained that she would be, with some bedrest and proper nutrition. Shepard was relieved. He didn't want her to come to harm over something like this. "Go ahead and see the doctor, Liara." Shepard turned to the rest of his crew. "The rest of you are dismissed." As his team got up and began returning to their stations, Joker once again offered to patch Shepard through to the Council. He agreed once more to update them on the situation. Once Shepard had established comms with the Council, they questioned if he was taking the proper security precautions with Dr. T'soni. Shepard saw where this was going. "Liara isn't a security threat. She's on our side." The Council stated that they hoped he was right. The turian councilor then questioned Shepard's execution of the mission, asking if the destruction of the prothean ruins on Therum was truly necessary. It took a lot of effort for Shepard to not disconnect the call at such a question, but being a truthful man, he plainly stated that the ruins were overrun with Saren's forces. There was no other way. The salarian councilor agreed with his assessment. After the Council's approval of the mission, the call was ended. Shepard had now assisted the colonists on Feros and rescued Dr. T'soni from her perilous fate. What remained now, was to head to the corporation world of Noveria, and investigate an alleged geth presence there, and the second biggest fish of the mission, the Matriarch Benezia. ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan grumbled loudly in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 856da66bd6a9f24a9e284c594b92925a2d7db6bf 161 160 2020-05-19T02:40:41Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Helping Friends */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as was his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher, which, she explained, was essentially the knowledge associated with being a prothean - culture, understanding, senses. Shiala described the Cipher's importance - it was necessary to make sense of the knowledge contained in the prothean beacon, and it also contained the knowledge of how to Saren planned to unleash the Reapers. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher, no matter the cost. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, advanced machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical needs to know about this." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to be patient." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. Kaidan then also reminded Shepard that they had another lead, the asari Dr. Liara T'soni, daughter of Benezia, who was somewhere in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Shepard agreed, and realizing that in order to go up against the Matriarch, her daughter could be useful indeed. He decided that this was their next target. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "We'll beat him at his own game. It's the only way to beat someone like him." Shepard said with certainty. And he meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do. Saren's good. But I'm better." Wrex retorted, "Good? He's rotten to the core." The grizzled krogan began to explain how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day; how he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but from Wrex's testimony, he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. "The ship is so quiet...how do you sleep at night?" She asked, with genuine curiosity. Shepard couldn't help but be amused at this, she clearly wasn't joking. It was actually pretty cute, Shepard thought. He discussed her issue with her, raising a brow inquisitively, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. Shepard nodded, understandingly. He knew the feeling. "You're homesick." Shepard said. Tali nodded ponderously. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where only foot travel would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad descended through the use of a few elevators, making their way down through the dig site, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew instantly - Dr. Liara T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Normandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. Liara went on to explain that even though little information remained on the protheans, even less remained on their predecessors. This was frustrating for her, making it nearly impossible for her and her scientific methods to determine what exactly happened to them. This was a striking moment for Shepard, when he realized that what he held in his brain, what was given to him by the prothean beacon on Eden Prime, was knowledge unknown to even leading scientists. He needed to share it. When Liara had finished explaining her understandings, Shepard proclaimed what he knew. "I think I can help you there, Dr. T'soni. I know what happened to the protheans. They didn't just disappear, they were wiped out, by a race of advanced machines called the Reapers." Liara's eyes widened, and she tilted her head inquisitively, "The...the Reapers? I've never heard of them. How do you know this?" Shepard responded, "I interacted with a damaged prothean beacon from Eden Prime. It showed me...images...of the protheans fate. I saw their destruction by the Reapers." Liara was flabbergasted, completely taken aback. She could scarcely believe it, and when Shepard mentioned the cipher that helped him understand the visions better, Liara was even more curious with knowing that another asari, Shiala from Feros, bestowed it upon him. Finally understanding why Saren and the geth wanted her dead, Liara realized that she too could help Shepard understand the visions better using her own mind-melding ability. Liara requested to perform the same action on Shepard. Shepard was beyond fed up with Saren, and was ready to hunt him down and catch him, once and for all. If this could help him along to that goal, he would do it, regardless of the risks. He agreed to let Liara interface with his mind. As they did, Liara came into contact with the exact same visions Shepard had held in his brain for weeks now. Once the mind-melding was complete, Liara almost fell over but steadied herself. Liara explained to Shepard that she now believed him. She also complimented him, describing his immense strength of will in order to bear that burden the way he did. Shepard was flattered, but he didn't consider it an accomplishment. He was a soldier, a soldier who had seen so many haunting sights and had to live with them. This was just another thing. Or so he thought. Unfortunately, Liara confessed to receiving nothing substantial from the visions themselves, it was all still foggy, and she herself was not well after the mind-melding. Shepard and Kaidan advised that she see Doctor Chakwas. Shepard asked if she was alright, and Liara explained that she would be, with some bedrest and proper nutrition. Shepard was relieved. He didn't want her to come to harm over something like this. "Go ahead and see the doctor, Liara." Shepard turned to the rest of his crew. "The rest of you are dismissed." As his team got up and began returning to their stations, Joker once again offered to patch Shepard through to the Council. He agreed once more to update them on the situation. Once Shepard had established comms with the Council, they questioned if he was taking the proper security precautions with Dr. T'soni. Shepard saw where this was going. "Liara isn't a security threat. She's on our side." The Council stated that they hoped he was right. The turian councilor then questioned Shepard's execution of the mission, asking if the destruction of the prothean ruins on Therum was truly necessary. It took a lot of effort for Shepard to not disconnect the call at such a question, but being a truthful man, he plainly stated that the ruins were overrun with Saren's forces. There was no other way. The salarian councilor agreed with his assessment. After the Council's approval of the mission, the call was ended. Shepard had now assisted the colonists on Feros and rescued Dr. T'soni from her perilous fate. What remained now, was to head to the corporation world of Noveria, and investigate an alleged geth presence there, and the second biggest fish of the mission, the Matriarch Benezia. ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard despised the thought of this monster escape scot free. He knew he needed to help Garrus take him down. Such is what honor and justice would demand. Not only this, but Garrus was his friend. Shepard wanted to help him. Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard saw how well Wrex disguised his sentiments, but he could feel in the way Wrex discussed the armor that it held value to him, not monetary, but sentimental, the value of honor. Shepard knew that he wanted to help Wrex recover it. Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. Shepard could see in Tali a sweet and kind girl, but one possessed of immense mental strength. She was unafraid and determined to change her world, and to help carve a new path for her people. Something Shepard respected immensely. He cared about her as a friend, he wanted to see her succeed. Shepard knew that if recovering geth data was what would be best for her pilgrimage, he would do it. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan grumbled loudly in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == c637db4cea576c05feda03b0c084050765e8d3f5 162 161 2020-05-19T02:41:22Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Helping Friends */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as was his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher, which, she explained, was essentially the knowledge associated with being a prothean - culture, understanding, senses. Shiala described the Cipher's importance - it was necessary to make sense of the knowledge contained in the prothean beacon, and it also contained the knowledge of how to Saren planned to unleash the Reapers. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher, no matter the cost. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, advanced machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical needs to know about this." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to be patient." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. Kaidan then also reminded Shepard that they had another lead, the asari Dr. Liara T'soni, daughter of Benezia, who was somewhere in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Shepard agreed, and realizing that in order to go up against the Matriarch, her daughter could be useful indeed. He decided that this was their next target. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "We'll beat him at his own game. It's the only way to beat someone like him." Shepard said with certainty. And he meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do. Saren's good. But I'm better." Wrex retorted, "Good? He's rotten to the core." The grizzled krogan began to explain how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day; how he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but from Wrex's testimony, he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. "The ship is so quiet...how do you sleep at night?" She asked, with genuine curiosity. Shepard couldn't help but be amused at this, she clearly wasn't joking. It was actually pretty cute, Shepard thought. He discussed her issue with her, raising a brow inquisitively, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. Shepard nodded, understandingly. He knew the feeling. "You're homesick." Shepard said. Tali nodded ponderously. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where only foot travel would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad descended through the use of a few elevators, making their way down through the dig site, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew instantly - Dr. Liara T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Normandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. Liara went on to explain that even though little information remained on the protheans, even less remained on their predecessors. This was frustrating for her, making it nearly impossible for her and her scientific methods to determine what exactly happened to them. This was a striking moment for Shepard, when he realized that what he held in his brain, what was given to him by the prothean beacon on Eden Prime, was knowledge unknown to even leading scientists. He needed to share it. When Liara had finished explaining her understandings, Shepard proclaimed what he knew. "I think I can help you there, Dr. T'soni. I know what happened to the protheans. They didn't just disappear, they were wiped out, by a race of advanced machines called the Reapers." Liara's eyes widened, and she tilted her head inquisitively, "The...the Reapers? I've never heard of them. How do you know this?" Shepard responded, "I interacted with a damaged prothean beacon from Eden Prime. It showed me...images...of the protheans fate. I saw their destruction by the Reapers." Liara was flabbergasted, completely taken aback. She could scarcely believe it, and when Shepard mentioned the cipher that helped him understand the visions better, Liara was even more curious with knowing that another asari, Shiala from Feros, bestowed it upon him. Finally understanding why Saren and the geth wanted her dead, Liara realized that she too could help Shepard understand the visions better using her own mind-melding ability. Liara requested to perform the same action on Shepard. Shepard was beyond fed up with Saren, and was ready to hunt him down and catch him, once and for all. If this could help him along to that goal, he would do it, regardless of the risks. He agreed to let Liara interface with his mind. As they did, Liara came into contact with the exact same visions Shepard had held in his brain for weeks now. Once the mind-melding was complete, Liara almost fell over but steadied herself. Liara explained to Shepard that she now believed him. She also complimented him, describing his immense strength of will in order to bear that burden the way he did. Shepard was flattered, but he didn't consider it an accomplishment. He was a soldier, a soldier who had seen so many haunting sights and had to live with them. This was just another thing. Or so he thought. Unfortunately, Liara confessed to receiving nothing substantial from the visions themselves, it was all still foggy, and she herself was not well after the mind-melding. Shepard and Kaidan advised that she see Doctor Chakwas. Shepard asked if she was alright, and Liara explained that she would be, with some bedrest and proper nutrition. Shepard was relieved. He didn't want her to come to harm over something like this. "Go ahead and see the doctor, Liara." Shepard turned to the rest of his crew. "The rest of you are dismissed." As his team got up and began returning to their stations, Joker once again offered to patch Shepard through to the Council. He agreed once more to update them on the situation. Once Shepard had established comms with the Council, they questioned if he was taking the proper security precautions with Dr. T'soni. Shepard saw where this was going. "Liara isn't a security threat. She's on our side." The Council stated that they hoped he was right. The turian councilor then questioned Shepard's execution of the mission, asking if the destruction of the prothean ruins on Therum was truly necessary. It took a lot of effort for Shepard to not disconnect the call at such a question, but being a truthful man, he plainly stated that the ruins were overrun with Saren's forces. There was no other way. The salarian councilor agreed with his assessment. After the Council's approval of the mission, the call was ended. Shepard had now assisted the colonists on Feros and rescued Dr. T'soni from her perilous fate. What remained now, was to head to the corporation world of Noveria, and investigate an alleged geth presence there, and the second biggest fish of the mission, the Matriarch Benezia. ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard despised the thought that this monster escaped scot free. He knew he needed to help Garrus take him down. Such is what honor and justice would demand. Not only this, but Garrus was his friend. Shepard wanted to help him. Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard saw how well Wrex disguised his sentiments, but he could feel in the way Wrex discussed the armor that it held value to him, not monetary, but sentimental, the value of honor. Shepard knew that he wanted to help Wrex recover it. Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. Shepard could see in Tali a sweet and kind girl, but one possessed of immense mental strength. She was unafraid and determined to change her world, and to help carve a new path for her people. Something Shepard respected immensely. He cared about her as a friend, he wanted to see her succeed. Shepard knew that if recovering geth data was what would be best for her pilgrimage, he would do it. (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ... ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan grumbled loudly in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 93c735370da6076c32909891b174bf2bd07df81e 163 162 2020-05-19T14:30:28Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Helping Friends */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as was his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher, which, she explained, was essentially the knowledge associated with being a prothean - culture, understanding, senses. Shiala described the Cipher's importance - it was necessary to make sense of the knowledge contained in the prothean beacon, and it also contained the knowledge of how to Saren planned to unleash the Reapers. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher, no matter the cost. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, advanced machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical needs to know about this." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to be patient." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. Kaidan then also reminded Shepard that they had another lead, the asari Dr. Liara T'soni, daughter of Benezia, who was somewhere in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Shepard agreed, and realizing that in order to go up against the Matriarch, her daughter could be useful indeed. He decided that this was their next target. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "We'll beat him at his own game. It's the only way to beat someone like him." Shepard said with certainty. And he meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do. Saren's good. But I'm better." Wrex retorted, "Good? He's rotten to the core." The grizzled krogan began to explain how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day; how he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but from Wrex's testimony, he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. "The ship is so quiet...how do you sleep at night?" She asked, with genuine curiosity. Shepard couldn't help but be amused at this, she clearly wasn't joking. It was actually pretty cute, Shepard thought. He discussed her issue with her, raising a brow inquisitively, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. Shepard nodded, understandingly. He knew the feeling. "You're homesick." Shepard said. Tali nodded ponderously. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where only foot travel would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad descended through the use of a few elevators, making their way down through the dig site, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew instantly - Dr. Liara T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Normandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. Liara went on to explain that even though little information remained on the protheans, even less remained on their predecessors. This was frustrating for her, making it nearly impossible for her and her scientific methods to determine what exactly happened to them. This was a striking moment for Shepard, when he realized that what he held in his brain, what was given to him by the prothean beacon on Eden Prime, was knowledge unknown to even leading scientists. He needed to share it. When Liara had finished explaining her understandings, Shepard proclaimed what he knew. "I think I can help you there, Dr. T'soni. I know what happened to the protheans. They didn't just disappear, they were wiped out, by a race of advanced machines called the Reapers." Liara's eyes widened, and she tilted her head inquisitively, "The...the Reapers? I've never heard of them. How do you know this?" Shepard responded, "I interacted with a damaged prothean beacon from Eden Prime. It showed me...images...of the protheans fate. I saw their destruction by the Reapers." Liara was flabbergasted, completely taken aback. She could scarcely believe it, and when Shepard mentioned the cipher that helped him understand the visions better, Liara was even more curious with knowing that another asari, Shiala from Feros, bestowed it upon him. Finally understanding why Saren and the geth wanted her dead, Liara realized that she too could help Shepard understand the visions better using her own mind-melding ability. Liara requested to perform the same action on Shepard. Shepard was beyond fed up with Saren, and was ready to hunt him down and catch him, once and for all. If this could help him along to that goal, he would do it, regardless of the risks. He agreed to let Liara interface with his mind. As they did, Liara came into contact with the exact same visions Shepard had held in his brain for weeks now. Once the mind-melding was complete, Liara almost fell over but steadied herself. Liara explained to Shepard that she now believed him. She also complimented him, describing his immense strength of will in order to bear that burden the way he did. Shepard was flattered, but he didn't consider it an accomplishment. He was a soldier, a soldier who had seen so many haunting sights and had to live with them. This was just another thing. Or so he thought. Unfortunately, Liara confessed to receiving nothing substantial from the visions themselves, it was all still foggy, and she herself was not well after the mind-melding. Shepard and Kaidan advised that she see Doctor Chakwas. Shepard asked if she was alright, and Liara explained that she would be, with some bedrest and proper nutrition. Shepard was relieved. He didn't want her to come to harm over something like this. "Go ahead and see the doctor, Liara." Shepard turned to the rest of his crew. "The rest of you are dismissed." As his team got up and began returning to their stations, Joker once again offered to patch Shepard through to the Council. He agreed once more to update them on the situation. Once Shepard had established comms with the Council, they questioned if he was taking the proper security precautions with Dr. T'soni. Shepard saw where this was going. "Liara isn't a security threat. She's on our side." The Council stated that they hoped he was right. The turian councilor then questioned Shepard's execution of the mission, asking if the destruction of the prothean ruins on Therum was truly necessary. It took a lot of effort for Shepard to not disconnect the call at such a question, but being a truthful man, he plainly stated that the ruins were overrun with Saren's forces. There was no other way. The salarian councilor agreed with his assessment. After the Council's approval of the mission, the call was ended. Shepard had now assisted the colonists on Feros and rescued Dr. T'soni from her perilous fate. What remained now, was to head to the corporation world of Noveria, and investigate an alleged geth presence there, and the second biggest fish of the mission, the Matriarch Benezia. ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard despised the thought that this monster escaped scot free. He knew he needed to help Garrus take him down. Such is what honor and justice would demand. Not only this, but Garrus was his friend. Shepard wanted to help him. Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard saw how well Wrex disguised his sentiments, but he could feel in the way Wrex discussed the armor that it held value to him, not monetary, but sentimental, the value of honor. Shepard knew that he wanted to help Wrex recover it. Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. Shepard could see in Tali a sweet and kind girl, but one possessed of immense mental strength. She was unafraid and determined to change her world, and to help carve a new path for her people. Something Shepard respected immensely. He cared about her as a friend, he wanted to see her succeed. Shepard knew that if recovering geth data was what would be best for her pilgrimage, he would do it. Shepard's first objective was to track down Dr. Heart for Garrus. The navdata that Garrus supplied to Shepard indicated that the infamous salarian "doctor" was located in the Herschel System of the Kepler Verge. Knowing this, Shepard ordered the Normandy to head to that system. Once they entered the Herschel System, they traveled at FTL speeds and performed frequent scans of system. Shepard was on alert, looking for any sign of the doctor's ship. Finally, the scanners located a human-style cargo ship orbiting a nearby planet. Shepard ordered the Normandy to dock with the freighter. As they docked, he read on the side of the freighter: MSV Fedele. When Shepard asked Garrus about the name, his turian friend informed him that the name checked out. As Garrus requested, Shepard decided to take Garrus along, ordering him to suit up and get ready to board. Anticipating trouble, Shepard also chose Wrex to accompany him - after all, a krogan would come in very handy if they ran into a tight spot. Once his boarding party was ready, Shepard and the team went aboard the Fedele. As they passed through the sterile, eerily quiet passageways of the ship, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex were all very alert. They heard thumping and soft groaning in the chamber ahead. Shepard opened the door seal and they entered carefully. Suddenly, they were set upon by creatures that were barely visible in the poorly lit chamber. They roared and groaned, and charged Shepard and his team. Shepard gave the order to open fire, and the creatures were cut down one at a time, until the chamber was empty. Looking down at one of the corpses, Shepard and his team examined it; a humanoid, stitched and cut, missing various parts of its body. "Looks like Dr. Saleon has been experimenting. Mn. It's gruesome." Garrus said, in a low voice. As Shepard looked upon the desecrated humanoid, he was beyond sickened. He had seen many things in his years, but a person, likely an innocent, butchered in such a way - Saleon was a monster, and had to be stopped. That would be justice. But his mind turned to his vengeance on Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver who killed his family. Was that justice? Maybe. But Goral begged and pleaded, even as Shepard took his life. He wasn't sure anymore. It felt good at the time but...that was not justice. That was hate. Shepard then realized - he couldn't take this person's life out of hate. Nor should Garrus. He would show mercy. Because that sets them above the monsters like Saleon, and Goral. Refocusing on the situation at hand, Shepard and his team moved on, and quite literally the next chamber down, the door opened, and Shepard came face to face with a decrepit old Salarian with a strange face, and doctor's clothes. He must have been hiding from the creatures in the previous room. The salarian spoke quickly as they entered the chamber, "Oh, thank you so much for saving me from those monsters!" Suddenly, Garrus spoke. "Commander, that's him. That's Dr. Saleon." The salarian retorted immediately, "What? No! My name is Heart! Dr. Heart!" Shepard furrowed his brow, narrowing his eyes at the salarian. He turned his head towards Garrus. "You're sure it's him?" Garrus nodded, his voice grim. "Positive." The turian looked to Saleon and snarled, "I'd harvest your organs first, Saleon, but we don't have the time." The salarian doctor spoke frantically, telling Shepard that Garrus was crazy, and pleading to the Commander to let him go. Shepard's eyes remained narrowed. He made his decision. This wouldn't go down like it did on Torfan. Shepard spoke calmly, "We'll take him in." Garrus turned rapidly, in disbelief, "But Commander, we have him!" Shepard turned to Garrus and looked him straight in the eyes. "I know. And we'll hand him over to the military." Garrus pushed back, "Shepard, we can't just let him live, after all he's done!" Shepard attempted to reassure Garrus. "Think, Garrus. If we end him here and now, we'll never figure out how he did it, or all the other crimes he's committed. We'll take him in. He'll do his time, and he'll be punished." Garrus tried to say more but seemed to concede. "I...you're right, Commander." Garrus turned to Saleon, giving him another death glare. "You're a VERY lucky salarian. You owe the Commander your life." The salarian doctor seemed to crack a wicked, scheming smirk. His voice slithered like a snake, "Ohh, thank you so much, Commander..." Just then, the salarian flinched, reaching behind him and grabbing hold of his pistol, and, though clumsily, he took aim at Shepard quite quickly. Wrex bellowed out, "Gun!" Like a flash, Shepard drew his own pistol and, faster than the blink of an eye, Shepard drew his gun. A bang and a smoking hole in the salarian's head was testament to the Commander's quick-drawing skill. The butcher, Dr. Saleon, fell to the floor like a tree. Garrus looked at the dead body of Saleon, and turned to Shepard. "...And he dies anyway. What was the point of that?" Shepard holstered his pistol, and turned to Garrus. "You can't always predict how people will act, Garrus. But what you can do is control how you behave in the situation. That's what counts." Garrus seemed to mull it over for a second, coming to an understanding, "Yeah...huh. You know, I don't think I've ever met someone like you before, Commander." Shepard smiled at Garrus. He was making an impression on his turian friend. Which was good. Garrus had the makings of an excellent soldier and leader, he just needed to calm his impulses. Shepard had to learn this the hard way; his cold-blooded slaying of Goral, how he was almost court-martialed. Anderson taught him much, and he hoped to impart some of that wisdom onto Garrus as well. With the job accomplished, Shepard and his team departed the butcher's ship and returned to the Normandy. ... (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan grumbled loudly in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == f6e6f63b3470b38474acc1840c7f55de8c1c1b58 164 163 2020-05-19T14:33:53Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Helping Friends */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as was his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher, which, she explained, was essentially the knowledge associated with being a prothean - culture, understanding, senses. Shiala described the Cipher's importance - it was necessary to make sense of the knowledge contained in the prothean beacon, and it also contained the knowledge of how to Saren planned to unleash the Reapers. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher, no matter the cost. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, advanced machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical needs to know about this." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to be patient." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. Kaidan then also reminded Shepard that they had another lead, the asari Dr. Liara T'soni, daughter of Benezia, who was somewhere in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Shepard agreed, and realizing that in order to go up against the Matriarch, her daughter could be useful indeed. He decided that this was their next target. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "We'll beat him at his own game. It's the only way to beat someone like him." Shepard said with certainty. And he meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do. Saren's good. But I'm better." Wrex retorted, "Good? He's rotten to the core." The grizzled krogan began to explain how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day; how he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but from Wrex's testimony, he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. "The ship is so quiet...how do you sleep at night?" She asked, with genuine curiosity. Shepard couldn't help but be amused at this, she clearly wasn't joking. It was actually pretty cute, Shepard thought. He discussed her issue with her, raising a brow inquisitively, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. Shepard nodded, understandingly. He knew the feeling. "You're homesick." Shepard said. Tali nodded ponderously. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where only foot travel would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad descended through the use of a few elevators, making their way down through the dig site, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew instantly - Dr. Liara T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Normandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. Liara went on to explain that even though little information remained on the protheans, even less remained on their predecessors. This was frustrating for her, making it nearly impossible for her and her scientific methods to determine what exactly happened to them. This was a striking moment for Shepard, when he realized that what he held in his brain, what was given to him by the prothean beacon on Eden Prime, was knowledge unknown to even leading scientists. He needed to share it. When Liara had finished explaining her understandings, Shepard proclaimed what he knew. "I think I can help you there, Dr. T'soni. I know what happened to the protheans. They didn't just disappear, they were wiped out, by a race of advanced machines called the Reapers." Liara's eyes widened, and she tilted her head inquisitively, "The...the Reapers? I've never heard of them. How do you know this?" Shepard responded, "I interacted with a damaged prothean beacon from Eden Prime. It showed me...images...of the protheans fate. I saw their destruction by the Reapers." Liara was flabbergasted, completely taken aback. She could scarcely believe it, and when Shepard mentioned the cipher that helped him understand the visions better, Liara was even more curious with knowing that another asari, Shiala from Feros, bestowed it upon him. Finally understanding why Saren and the geth wanted her dead, Liara realized that she too could help Shepard understand the visions better using her own mind-melding ability. Liara requested to perform the same action on Shepard. Shepard was beyond fed up with Saren, and was ready to hunt him down and catch him, once and for all. If this could help him along to that goal, he would do it, regardless of the risks. He agreed to let Liara interface with his mind. As they did, Liara came into contact with the exact same visions Shepard had held in his brain for weeks now. Once the mind-melding was complete, Liara almost fell over but steadied herself. Liara explained to Shepard that she now believed him. She also complimented him, describing his immense strength of will in order to bear that burden the way he did. Shepard was flattered, but he didn't consider it an accomplishment. He was a soldier, a soldier who had seen so many haunting sights and had to live with them. This was just another thing. Or so he thought. Unfortunately, Liara confessed to receiving nothing substantial from the visions themselves, it was all still foggy, and she herself was not well after the mind-melding. Shepard and Kaidan advised that she see Doctor Chakwas. Shepard asked if she was alright, and Liara explained that she would be, with some bedrest and proper nutrition. Shepard was relieved. He didn't want her to come to harm over something like this. "Go ahead and see the doctor, Liara." Shepard turned to the rest of his crew. "The rest of you are dismissed." As his team got up and began returning to their stations, Joker once again offered to patch Shepard through to the Council. He agreed once more to update them on the situation. Once Shepard had established comms with the Council, they questioned if he was taking the proper security precautions with Dr. T'soni. Shepard saw where this was going. "Liara isn't a security threat. She's on our side." The Council stated that they hoped he was right. The turian councilor then questioned Shepard's execution of the mission, asking if the destruction of the prothean ruins on Therum was truly necessary. It took a lot of effort for Shepard to not disconnect the call at such a question, but being a truthful man, he plainly stated that the ruins were overrun with Saren's forces. There was no other way. The salarian councilor agreed with his assessment. After the Council's approval of the mission, the call was ended. Shepard had now assisted the colonists on Feros and rescued Dr. T'soni from her perilous fate. What remained now, was to head to the corporation world of Noveria, and investigate an alleged geth presence there, and the second biggest fish of the mission, the Matriarch Benezia. ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard despised the thought that this monster escaped scot free. He knew he needed to help Garrus take him down. Such is what honor and justice would demand. Not only this, but Garrus was his friend. Shepard wanted to help him. Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard saw how well Wrex disguised his sentiments, but he could feel in the way Wrex discussed the armor that it held value to him, not monetary, but sentimental, the value of honor. Shepard knew that he wanted to help Wrex recover it. Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. Shepard could see in Tali a sweet and kind girl, but one possessed of immense mental strength. She was unafraid and determined to change her world, and to help carve a new path for her people. Something Shepard respected immensely. He cared about her as a friend, he wanted to see her succeed. Shepard knew that if recovering geth data was what would be best for her pilgrimage, he would do it. Shepard's first objective was to track down Dr. Heart for Garrus. The navdata that Garrus supplied to Shepard indicated that the infamous salarian "doctor" was located in the Herschel System of the Kepler Verge. Knowing this, Shepard ordered the Normandy to head to that system. Once they entered the Herschel System, they traveled at FTL speeds and performed frequent scans of system. Shepard was on alert, looking for any sign of the doctor's ship. Finally, the scanners located a human-style cargo ship orbiting a nearby planet. Shepard ordered the Normandy to dock with the freighter. As they docked, he read on the side of the freighter: MSV Fedele. When Shepard asked Garrus about the name, his turian friend informed him that the name checked out. As Garrus requested, Shepard decided to take Garrus along, ordering him to suit up and get ready to board. Anticipating trouble, Shepard also chose Wrex to accompany him - after all, a krogan would come in very handy if they ran into a tight spot. Once his boarding party was ready, Shepard and the team went aboard the Fedele. As they passed through the sterile, eerily quiet passageways of the ship, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex were all very alert. They heard thumping and soft groaning in the chamber ahead. Shepard opened the door seal and they entered carefully. Suddenly, they were set upon by creatures that were barely visible in the poorly lit chamber. They roared and groaned, and charged Shepard and his team. Shepard gave the order to open fire, and the creatures were cut down one at a time, until the chamber was empty. Looking down at one of the corpses, Shepard and his team examined it; a humanoid, stitched and cut, missing various parts of its body. "Looks like Dr. Saleon has been experimenting. Mn. It's gruesome." Garrus said, in a low voice. As Shepard looked upon the desecrated humanoid, he was beyond sickened. He had seen many things in his years, but a person, likely an innocent, butchered in such a way - Saleon was a monster, and had to be stopped. That would be justice. But his mind turned to his vengeance on Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver who killed his family. Was that justice? Maybe. But Goral begged and pleaded, even as Shepard took his life. He wasn't sure anymore. It felt good at the time but...that was not justice. That was hate. Shepard then realized - he couldn't take this person's life out of hate. Nor should Garrus. He would show mercy. Because that sets them above the monsters like Saleon, and Goral. Refocusing on the situation at hand, Shepard and his team moved on, and quite literally the next chamber down, the door opened, and Shepard came face to face with a decrepit old Salarian with a strange face, and doctor's clothes. He must have been hiding from the creatures in the previous room. The salarian spoke quickly as they entered the chamber, "Oh, thank you so much for saving me from those monsters!" Suddenly, Garrus spoke. "Commander, that's him. That's Dr. Saleon." The salarian retorted immediately, "What? No! My name is Heart! Dr. Heart!" Shepard furrowed his brow, narrowing his eyes at the salarian. He turned his head towards Garrus. "You're sure it's him?" Garrus nodded, his voice grim. "Positive." The turian looked to Saleon and snarled, "I'd harvest your organs first, Saleon, but we don't have the time." The salarian doctor spoke frantically, telling Shepard that Garrus was crazy, and pleading to the Commander to let him go. Shepard's eyes remained narrowed. He made his decision. This wouldn't go down like it did on Torfan. Shepard spoke calmly, "We'll take him in." Garrus turned rapidly, in disbelief, "But Commander, we have him!" Shepard turned to Garrus and looked him straight in the eyes. "I know. And we'll hand him over to the military." Garrus pushed back, "Shepard, we can't just let him live, after all he's done!" Shepard attempted to reassure Garrus. "Think, Garrus. If we end him here and now, we'll never figure out how he did it, or all the other crimes he's committed. We'll take him in. He'll do his time, and he'll be punished." Garrus tried to say more but seemed to concede. "I...you're right, Commander." Garrus turned to Saleon, giving him another death glare. "You're a VERY lucky salarian. You owe the Commander your life." The salarian doctor seemed to crack a wicked, scheming smirk. His voice slithered like a snake, "Ohh, thank you so much, Commander..." Just then, the salarian flinched, reaching behind and grabbing hold of his pistol, and, though clumsily, he took aim at Shepard quite quickly. Wrex bellowed out, "Gun!" Like a flash, Shepard drew his own pistol and, faster than the blink of an eye, Shepard drew his gun. A bang and a smoking hole in the salarian's head was testament to the Commander's quick-drawing skill. The butcher, Dr. Saleon, fell to the floor like a tree. Garrus looked at the dead body of Saleon, and turned to Shepard. "...And he dies anyway. What was the point of that?" Shepard holstered his pistol, and turned to Garrus. "You can't always predict how people will act, Garrus. But what you can do is control how you behave in the situation. That's what counts." Garrus seemed to mull it over for a second, coming to an understanding, "Yeah...huh. You know, I don't think I've ever met someone like you before, Commander." Shepard smiled at Garrus. He was making an impression on his turian friend. Which was good. Garrus had the makings of an excellent soldier and leader, he just needed to calm his impulses. Shepard had to learn this the hard way; his cold-blooded slaying of Goral, how he was almost court-martialed. Anderson taught him much, and he hoped to impart some of that wisdom onto Garrus as well. With the job accomplished, Shepard and his team departed the butcher's ship and returned to the Normandy. ... (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan grumbled loudly in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 5ae0fb69a86c764f4494070531246cd269a50c0f 165 164 2020-05-19T14:34:59Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Helping Friends */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'll kill you myself!!" He bellows, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "You-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped, and he even continued after. His fists covered in blood, spray even upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as was his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher, which, she explained, was essentially the knowledge associated with being a prothean - culture, understanding, senses. Shiala described the Cipher's importance - it was necessary to make sense of the knowledge contained in the prothean beacon, and it also contained the knowledge of how to Saren planned to unleash the Reapers. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher, no matter the cost. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, advanced machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical needs to know about this." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to be patient." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. Kaidan then also reminded Shepard that they had another lead, the asari Dr. Liara T'soni, daughter of Benezia, who was somewhere in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Shepard agreed, and realizing that in order to go up against the Matriarch, her daughter could be useful indeed. He decided that this was their next target. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "We'll beat him at his own game. It's the only way to beat someone like him." Shepard said with certainty. And he meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do. Saren's good. But I'm better." Wrex retorted, "Good? He's rotten to the core." The grizzled krogan began to explain how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day; how he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but from Wrex's testimony, he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. "The ship is so quiet...how do you sleep at night?" She asked, with genuine curiosity. Shepard couldn't help but be amused at this, she clearly wasn't joking. It was actually pretty cute, Shepard thought. He discussed her issue with her, raising a brow inquisitively, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. Shepard nodded, understandingly. He knew the feeling. "You're homesick." Shepard said. Tali nodded ponderously. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where only foot travel would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad descended through the use of a few elevators, making their way down through the dig site, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew instantly - Dr. Liara T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Normandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. Liara went on to explain that even though little information remained on the protheans, even less remained on their predecessors. This was frustrating for her, making it nearly impossible for her and her scientific methods to determine what exactly happened to them. This was a striking moment for Shepard, when he realized that what he held in his brain, what was given to him by the prothean beacon on Eden Prime, was knowledge unknown to even leading scientists. He needed to share it. When Liara had finished explaining her understandings, Shepard proclaimed what he knew. "I think I can help you there, Dr. T'soni. I know what happened to the protheans. They didn't just disappear, they were wiped out, by a race of advanced machines called the Reapers." Liara's eyes widened, and she tilted her head inquisitively, "The...the Reapers? I've never heard of them. How do you know this?" Shepard responded, "I interacted with a damaged prothean beacon from Eden Prime. It showed me...images...of the protheans fate. I saw their destruction by the Reapers." Liara was flabbergasted, completely taken aback. She could scarcely believe it, and when Shepard mentioned the cipher that helped him understand the visions better, Liara was even more curious with knowing that another asari, Shiala from Feros, bestowed it upon him. Finally understanding why Saren and the geth wanted her dead, Liara realized that she too could help Shepard understand the visions better using her own mind-melding ability. Liara requested to perform the same action on Shepard. Shepard was beyond fed up with Saren, and was ready to hunt him down and catch him, once and for all. If this could help him along to that goal, he would do it, regardless of the risks. He agreed to let Liara interface with his mind. As they did, Liara came into contact with the exact same visions Shepard had held in his brain for weeks now. Once the mind-melding was complete, Liara almost fell over but steadied herself. Liara explained to Shepard that she now believed him. She also complimented him, describing his immense strength of will in order to bear that burden the way he did. Shepard was flattered, but he didn't consider it an accomplishment. He was a soldier, a soldier who had seen so many haunting sights and had to live with them. This was just another thing. Or so he thought. Unfortunately, Liara confessed to receiving nothing substantial from the visions themselves, it was all still foggy, and she herself was not well after the mind-melding. Shepard and Kaidan advised that she see Doctor Chakwas. Shepard asked if she was alright, and Liara explained that she would be, with some bedrest and proper nutrition. Shepard was relieved. He didn't want her to come to harm over something like this. "Go ahead and see the doctor, Liara." Shepard turned to the rest of his crew. "The rest of you are dismissed." As his team got up and began returning to their stations, Joker once again offered to patch Shepard through to the Council. He agreed once more to update them on the situation. Once Shepard had established comms with the Council, they questioned if he was taking the proper security precautions with Dr. T'soni. Shepard saw where this was going. "Liara isn't a security threat. She's on our side." The Council stated that they hoped he was right. The turian councilor then questioned Shepard's execution of the mission, asking if the destruction of the prothean ruins on Therum was truly necessary. It took a lot of effort for Shepard to not disconnect the call at such a question, but being a truthful man, he plainly stated that the ruins were overrun with Saren's forces. There was no other way. The salarian councilor agreed with his assessment. After the Council's approval of the mission, the call was ended. Shepard had now assisted the colonists on Feros and rescued Dr. T'soni from her perilous fate. What remained now, was to head to the corporation world of Noveria, and investigate an alleged geth presence there, and the second biggest fish of the mission, the Matriarch Benezia. ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard despised the thought that this monster escaped scot free. He knew he needed to help Garrus take him down. Such is what honor and justice would demand. Not only this, but Garrus was his friend. Shepard wanted to help him. Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard saw how well Wrex disguised his sentiments, but he could feel in the way Wrex discussed the armor that it held value to him, not monetary, but sentimental, the value of honor. Shepard knew that he wanted to help Wrex recover it. Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. Shepard could see in Tali a sweet and kind girl, but one possessed of immense mental strength. She was unafraid and determined to change her world, and to help carve a new path for her people. Something Shepard respected immensely. He cared about her as a friend, he wanted to see her succeed. Shepard knew that if recovering geth data was what would be best for her pilgrimage, he would do it. Shepard's first objective was to track down Dr. Heart for Garrus. The navdata that Garrus supplied to Shepard indicated that the infamous salarian "doctor" was located in the Herschel System of the Kepler Verge. Knowing this, Shepard ordered the Normandy to head to that system. Once they entered the Herschel System, they traveled at FTL speeds and performed frequent scans of system. Shepard was on alert, looking for any sign of the doctor's ship. Finally, the scanners located a human-style cargo ship orbiting a nearby planet. Shepard ordered the Normandy to dock with the freighter. As they docked, he read on the side of the freighter: MSV Fedele. When Shepard asked Garrus about the name, his turian friend informed him that the name checked out. As Garrus requested, Shepard decided to take Garrus along, ordering him to suit up and get ready to board. Anticipating trouble, Shepard also chose Wrex to accompany him - after all, a krogan would come in very handy if they ran into a tight spot. Once his boarding party was ready, Shepard and the team went aboard the Fedele. As they passed through the sterile, eerily quiet passageways of the ship, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex were all very alert. They heard thumping and soft groaning in the chamber ahead. Shepard opened the door seal and they entered carefully. Suddenly, they were set upon by creatures that were barely visible in the poorly lit chamber. They roared and groaned, and charged Shepard and his team. Shepard gave the order to open fire, and the creatures were cut down one at a time, until the chamber was empty. Looking down at one of the corpses, Shepard and his team examined it; a humanoid, stitched and cut, missing various parts of its body. "Looks like Dr. Saleon has been experimenting. Mn. It's gruesome." Garrus said, in a low voice. As Shepard looked upon the desecrated humanoid, he was beyond sickened. He had seen many things in his years, but a person, likely an innocent, butchered in such a way - Saleon was a monster, and had to be stopped. That would be justice. But his mind turned to his vengeance on Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver who killed his family. Was that justice? Maybe. But Goral begged and pleaded, even as Shepard took his life. He wasn't sure anymore. It felt good at the time but...that was not justice. That was hate. Shepard then realized - he couldn't take this person's life out of hate. Nor should Garrus. He would show mercy. Because that sets them above the monsters like Saleon, and Goral. Refocusing on the situation at hand, Shepard and his team moved on, and quite literally the next chamber down, the door opened, and Shepard came face to face with a decrepit old Salarian with a strange face, and doctor's clothes. He must have been hiding from the creatures in the previous room. The salarian spoke quickly as they entered the chamber, "Oh, thank you so much for saving me from those monsters!" Suddenly, Garrus spoke. "Commander, that's him. That's Dr. Saleon." The salarian retorted immediately, "What? No! My name is Heart! Dr. Heart!" Shepard furrowed his brow, narrowing his eyes at the salarian. He turned his head towards Garrus. "You're sure it's him?" Garrus nodded, his voice grim. "Positive." The turian looked to Saleon and snarled, "I'd harvest your organs first, Saleon, but we don't have the time." The salarian doctor spoke frantically, telling Shepard that Garrus was crazy, and pleading to the Commander to let him go. Shepard's eyes remained narrowed. He made his decision. This wouldn't go down like it did on Torfan. Shepard spoke calmly, "We'll take him in." Garrus turned rapidly, in disbelief, "But Commander, we have him!" Shepard turned to Garrus and looked him straight in the eyes. "I know. And we'll hand him over to the military." Garrus pushed back, "Shepard, we can't just let him live, after all he's done!" Shepard attempted to reassure Garrus. "Think, Garrus. If we end him here and now, we'll never figure out how he did it, or all the other crimes he's committed. We'll take him in. He'll do his time, and he'll be punished." Garrus tried to say more but seemed to concede. "I...you're right, Commander." Garrus turned to Saleon, giving him another death glare. "You're a VERY lucky salarian. You owe the Commander your life." The salarian doctor seemed to crack a wicked, scheming smirk. His voice slithered like a snake, "Ohh, thank you so much, Commander..." Just then, the salarian flinched, reaching behind and grabbing hold of his pistol, and, though clumsily, he took aim at Shepard quite quickly. Wrex bellowed out, "Gun!" Like a flash, Shepard drew his own pistol, faster than the blink of an eye. A bang and a smoking hole in the salarian's head was testament to the Commander's quick-drawing skill. The butcher, Dr. Saleon, fell to the floor like a tree. Garrus looked at the dead body of Saleon, and turned to Shepard. "...And he dies anyway. What was the point of that?" Shepard holstered his pistol, and turned to Garrus. "You can't always predict how people will act, Garrus. But what you can do is control how you behave in the situation. That's what counts." Garrus seemed to mull it over for a second, coming to an understanding, "Yeah...huh. You know, I don't think I've ever met someone like you before, Commander." Shepard smiled at Garrus. He was making an impression on his turian friend. Which was good. Garrus had the makings of an excellent soldier and leader, he just needed to calm his impulses. Shepard had to learn this the hard way; his cold-blooded slaying of Goral, how he was almost court-martialed. Anderson taught him much, and he hoped to impart some of that wisdom onto Garrus as well. With the job accomplished, Shepard and his team departed the butcher's ship and returned to the Normandy. ... (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan grumbled loudly in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 822f0e9d37a196adcb995df54c02456df7d4d285 166 165 2020-05-19T17:52:56Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!!" He bellowed, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all his fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "Y-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My-my ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped. Squelching punches continued, even after the batarian's screaming and wailing had ceased. Shepard's fists were covered in blood, and red spray landed upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Fortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did not do irreparable damage to his face, instead just giving him a long and nasty gash which was fixed rather easily, though the scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard also managed to keep the fact that he was present on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as was his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher, which, she explained, was essentially the knowledge associated with being a prothean - culture, understanding, senses. Shiala described the Cipher's importance - it was necessary to make sense of the knowledge contained in the prothean beacon, and it also contained the knowledge of how to Saren planned to unleash the Reapers. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher, no matter the cost. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, advanced machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical needs to know about this." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to be patient." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. Kaidan then also reminded Shepard that they had another lead, the asari Dr. Liara T'soni, daughter of Benezia, who was somewhere in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Shepard agreed, and realizing that in order to go up against the Matriarch, her daughter could be useful indeed. He decided that this was their next target. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "We'll beat him at his own game. It's the only way to beat someone like him." Shepard said with certainty. And he meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do. Saren's good. But I'm better." Wrex retorted, "Good? He's rotten to the core." The grizzled krogan began to explain how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day; how he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but from Wrex's testimony, he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. "The ship is so quiet...how do you sleep at night?" She asked, with genuine curiosity. Shepard couldn't help but be amused at this, she clearly wasn't joking. It was actually pretty cute, Shepard thought. He discussed her issue with her, raising a brow inquisitively, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. Shepard nodded, understandingly. He knew the feeling. "You're homesick." Shepard said. Tali nodded ponderously. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where only foot travel would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad descended through the use of a few elevators, making their way down through the dig site, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew instantly - Dr. Liara T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Normandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. Liara went on to explain that even though little information remained on the protheans, even less remained on their predecessors. This was frustrating for her, making it nearly impossible for her and her scientific methods to determine what exactly happened to them. This was a striking moment for Shepard, when he realized that what he held in his brain, what was given to him by the prothean beacon on Eden Prime, was knowledge unknown to even leading scientists. He needed to share it. When Liara had finished explaining her understandings, Shepard proclaimed what he knew. "I think I can help you there, Dr. T'soni. I know what happened to the protheans. They didn't just disappear, they were wiped out, by a race of advanced machines called the Reapers." Liara's eyes widened, and she tilted her head inquisitively, "The...the Reapers? I've never heard of them. How do you know this?" Shepard responded, "I interacted with a damaged prothean beacon from Eden Prime. It showed me...images...of the protheans fate. I saw their destruction by the Reapers." Liara was flabbergasted, completely taken aback. She could scarcely believe it, and when Shepard mentioned the cipher that helped him understand the visions better, Liara was even more curious with knowing that another asari, Shiala from Feros, bestowed it upon him. Finally understanding why Saren and the geth wanted her dead, Liara realized that she too could help Shepard understand the visions better using her own mind-melding ability. Liara requested to perform the same action on Shepard. Shepard was beyond fed up with Saren, and was ready to hunt him down and catch him, once and for all. If this could help him along to that goal, he would do it, regardless of the risks. He agreed to let Liara interface with his mind. As they did, Liara came into contact with the exact same visions Shepard had held in his brain for weeks now. Once the mind-melding was complete, Liara almost fell over but steadied herself. Liara explained to Shepard that she now believed him. She also complimented him, describing his immense strength of will in order to bear that burden the way he did. Shepard was flattered, but he didn't consider it an accomplishment. He was a soldier, a soldier who had seen so many haunting sights and had to live with them. This was just another thing. Or so he thought. Unfortunately, Liara confessed to receiving nothing substantial from the visions themselves, it was all still foggy, and she herself was not well after the mind-melding. Shepard and Kaidan advised that she see Doctor Chakwas. Shepard asked if she was alright, and Liara explained that she would be, with some bedrest and proper nutrition. Shepard was relieved. He didn't want her to come to harm over something like this. "Go ahead and see the doctor, Liara." Shepard turned to the rest of his crew. "The rest of you are dismissed." As his team got up and began returning to their stations, Joker once again offered to patch Shepard through to the Council. He agreed once more to update them on the situation. Once Shepard had established comms with the Council, they questioned if he was taking the proper security precautions with Dr. T'soni. Shepard saw where this was going. "Liara isn't a security threat. She's on our side." The Council stated that they hoped he was right. The turian councilor then questioned Shepard's execution of the mission, asking if the destruction of the prothean ruins on Therum was truly necessary. It took a lot of effort for Shepard to not disconnect the call at such a question, but being a truthful man, he plainly stated that the ruins were overrun with Saren's forces. There was no other way. The salarian councilor agreed with his assessment. After the Council's approval of the mission, the call was ended. Shepard had now assisted the colonists on Feros and rescued Dr. T'soni from her perilous fate. What remained now, was to head to the corporation world of Noveria, and investigate an alleged geth presence there, and the second biggest fish of the mission, the Matriarch Benezia. ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard despised the thought that this monster escaped scot free. He knew he needed to help Garrus take him down. Such is what honor and justice would demand. Not only this, but Garrus was his friend. Shepard wanted to help him. Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard saw how well Wrex disguised his sentiments, but he could feel in the way Wrex discussed the armor that it held value to him, not monetary, but sentimental, the value of honor. Shepard knew that he wanted to help Wrex recover it. Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. Shepard could see in Tali a sweet and kind girl, but one possessed of immense mental strength. She was unafraid and determined to change her world, and to help carve a new path for her people. Something Shepard respected immensely. He cared about her as a friend, he wanted to see her succeed. Shepard knew that if recovering geth data was what would be best for her pilgrimage, he would do it. Shepard's first objective was to track down Dr. Heart for Garrus. The navdata that Garrus supplied to Shepard indicated that the infamous salarian "doctor" was located in the Herschel System of the Kepler Verge. Knowing this, Shepard ordered the Normandy to head to that system. Once they entered the Herschel System, they traveled at FTL speeds and performed frequent scans of system. Shepard was on alert, looking for any sign of the doctor's ship. Finally, the scanners located a human-style cargo ship orbiting a nearby planet. Shepard ordered the Normandy to dock with the freighter. As they docked, he read on the side of the freighter: MSV Fedele. When Shepard asked Garrus about the name, his turian friend informed him that the name checked out. As Garrus requested, Shepard decided to take Garrus along, ordering him to suit up and get ready to board. Anticipating trouble, Shepard also chose Wrex to accompany him - after all, a krogan would come in very handy if they ran into a tight spot. Once his boarding party was ready, Shepard and the team went aboard the Fedele. As they passed through the sterile, eerily quiet passageways of the ship, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex were all very alert. They heard thumping and soft groaning in the chamber ahead. Shepard opened the door seal and they entered carefully. Suddenly, they were set upon by creatures that were barely visible in the poorly lit chamber. They roared and groaned, and charged Shepard and his team. Shepard gave the order to open fire, and the creatures were cut down one at a time, until the chamber was empty. Looking down at one of the corpses, Shepard and his team examined it; a humanoid, stitched and cut, missing various parts of its body. "Looks like Dr. Saleon has been experimenting. Mn. It's gruesome." Garrus said, in a low voice. As Shepard looked upon the desecrated humanoid, he was beyond sickened. He had seen many things in his years, but a person, likely an innocent, butchered in such a way - Saleon was a monster, and had to be stopped. That would be justice. But his mind turned to his vengeance on Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver who killed his family. Was that justice? Maybe. But Goral begged and pleaded, even as Shepard took his life. He wasn't sure anymore. It felt good at the time but...that was not justice. That was hate. Shepard then realized - he couldn't take this person's life out of hate. Nor should Garrus. He would show mercy. Because that sets them above the monsters like Saleon, and Goral. Refocusing on the situation at hand, Shepard and his team moved on, and quite literally the next chamber down, the door opened, and Shepard came face to face with a decrepit old Salarian with a strange face, and doctor's clothes. He must have been hiding from the creatures in the previous room. The salarian spoke quickly as they entered the chamber, "Oh, thank you so much for saving me from those monsters!" Suddenly, Garrus spoke. "Commander, that's him. That's Dr. Saleon." The salarian retorted immediately, "What? No! My name is Heart! Dr. Heart!" Shepard furrowed his brow, narrowing his eyes at the salarian. He turned his head towards Garrus. "You're sure it's him?" Garrus nodded, his voice grim. "Positive." The turian looked to Saleon and snarled, "I'd harvest your organs first, Saleon, but we don't have the time." The salarian doctor spoke frantically, telling Shepard that Garrus was crazy, and pleading to the Commander to let him go. Shepard's eyes remained narrowed. He made his decision. This wouldn't go down like it did on Torfan. Shepard spoke calmly, "We'll take him in." Garrus turned rapidly, in disbelief, "But Commander, we have him!" Shepard turned to Garrus and looked him straight in the eyes. "I know. And we'll hand him over to the military." Garrus pushed back, "Shepard, we can't just let him live, after all he's done!" Shepard attempted to reassure Garrus. "Think, Garrus. If we end him here and now, we'll never figure out how he did it, or all the other crimes he's committed. We'll take him in. He'll do his time, and he'll be punished." Garrus tried to say more but seemed to concede. "I...you're right, Commander." Garrus turned to Saleon, giving him another death glare. "You're a VERY lucky salarian. You owe the Commander your life." The salarian doctor seemed to crack a wicked, scheming smirk. His voice slithered like a snake, "Ohh, thank you so much, Commander..." Just then, the salarian flinched, reaching behind and grabbing hold of his pistol, and, though clumsily, he took aim at Shepard quite quickly. Wrex bellowed out, "Gun!" Like a flash, Shepard drew his own pistol, faster than the blink of an eye. A bang and a smoking hole in the salarian's head was testament to the Commander's quick-drawing skill. The butcher, Dr. Saleon, fell to the floor like a tree. Garrus looked at the dead body of Saleon, and turned to Shepard. "...And he dies anyway. What was the point of that?" Shepard holstered his pistol, and turned to Garrus. "You can't always predict how people will act, Garrus. But what you can do is control how you behave in the situation. That's what counts." Garrus seemed to mull it over for a second, coming to an understanding, "Yeah...huh. You know, I don't think I've ever met someone like you before, Commander." Shepard smiled at Garrus. He was making an impression on his turian friend. Which was good. Garrus had the makings of an excellent soldier and leader, he just needed to calm his impulses. Shepard had to learn this the hard way; his cold-blooded slaying of Goral, how he was almost court-martialed. Anderson taught him much, and he hoped to impart some of that wisdom onto Garrus as well. With the job accomplished, Shepard and his team departed the butcher's ship and returned to the Normandy. ... (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan grumbled loudly in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 1f072ca05ee1a4ae1fecd3ec42209d0a46f588ce 167 166 2020-05-19T17:55:09Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Aboard the SSV Normandy */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!!" He bellowed, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all his fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "Y-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My-my ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped. Squelching punches continued, even after the batarian's screaming and wailing had ceased. Shepard's fists were covered in blood, and red spray landed upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Unfortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did irreparable damage to his face, giving him a long and nasty scar after the healing process had ended. This scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard felt lucky, though, that he managed to keep his presence on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as was his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher, which, she explained, was essentially the knowledge associated with being a prothean - culture, understanding, senses. Shiala described the Cipher's importance - it was necessary to make sense of the knowledge contained in the prothean beacon, and it also contained the knowledge of how to Saren planned to unleash the Reapers. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher, no matter the cost. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, advanced machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical needs to know about this." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to be patient." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. Kaidan then also reminded Shepard that they had another lead, the asari Dr. Liara T'soni, daughter of Benezia, who was somewhere in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Shepard agreed, and realizing that in order to go up against the Matriarch, her daughter could be useful indeed. He decided that this was their next target. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "We'll beat him at his own game. It's the only way to beat someone like him." Shepard said with certainty. And he meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do. Saren's good. But I'm better." Wrex retorted, "Good? He's rotten to the core." The grizzled krogan began to explain how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day; how he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but from Wrex's testimony, he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. "The ship is so quiet...how do you sleep at night?" She asked, with genuine curiosity. Shepard couldn't help but be amused at this, she clearly wasn't joking. It was actually pretty cute, Shepard thought. He discussed her issue with her, raising a brow inquisitively, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. Shepard nodded, understandingly. He knew the feeling. "You're homesick." Shepard said. Tali nodded ponderously. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where only foot travel would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad descended through the use of a few elevators, making their way down through the dig site, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew instantly - Dr. Liara T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Normandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. Liara went on to explain that even though little information remained on the protheans, even less remained on their predecessors. This was frustrating for her, making it nearly impossible for her and her scientific methods to determine what exactly happened to them. This was a striking moment for Shepard, when he realized that what he held in his brain, what was given to him by the prothean beacon on Eden Prime, was knowledge unknown to even leading scientists. He needed to share it. When Liara had finished explaining her understandings, Shepard proclaimed what he knew. "I think I can help you there, Dr. T'soni. I know what happened to the protheans. They didn't just disappear, they were wiped out, by a race of advanced machines called the Reapers." Liara's eyes widened, and she tilted her head inquisitively, "The...the Reapers? I've never heard of them. How do you know this?" Shepard responded, "I interacted with a damaged prothean beacon from Eden Prime. It showed me...images...of the protheans fate. I saw their destruction by the Reapers." Liara was flabbergasted, completely taken aback. She could scarcely believe it, and when Shepard mentioned the cipher that helped him understand the visions better, Liara was even more curious with knowing that another asari, Shiala from Feros, bestowed it upon him. Finally understanding why Saren and the geth wanted her dead, Liara realized that she too could help Shepard understand the visions better using her own mind-melding ability. Liara requested to perform the same action on Shepard. Shepard was beyond fed up with Saren, and was ready to hunt him down and catch him, once and for all. If this could help him along to that goal, he would do it, regardless of the risks. He agreed to let Liara interface with his mind. As they did, Liara came into contact with the exact same visions Shepard had held in his brain for weeks now. Once the mind-melding was complete, Liara almost fell over but steadied herself. Liara explained to Shepard that she now believed him. She also complimented him, describing his immense strength of will in order to bear that burden the way he did. Shepard was flattered, but he didn't consider it an accomplishment. He was a soldier, a soldier who had seen so many haunting sights and had to live with them. This was just another thing. Or so he thought. Unfortunately, Liara confessed to receiving nothing substantial from the visions themselves, it was all still foggy, and she herself was not well after the mind-melding. Shepard and Kaidan advised that she see Doctor Chakwas. Shepard asked if she was alright, and Liara explained that she would be, with some bedrest and proper nutrition. Shepard was relieved. He didn't want her to come to harm over something like this. "Go ahead and see the doctor, Liara." Shepard turned to the rest of his crew. "The rest of you are dismissed." As his team got up and began returning to their stations, Joker once again offered to patch Shepard through to the Council. He agreed once more to update them on the situation. Once Shepard had established comms with the Council, they questioned if he was taking the proper security precautions with Dr. T'soni. Shepard saw where this was going. "Liara isn't a security threat. She's on our side." The Council stated that they hoped he was right. The turian councilor then questioned Shepard's execution of the mission, asking if the destruction of the prothean ruins on Therum was truly necessary. It took a lot of effort for Shepard to not disconnect the call at such a question, but being a truthful man, he plainly stated that the ruins were overrun with Saren's forces. There was no other way. The salarian councilor agreed with his assessment. After the Council's approval of the mission, the call was ended. Shepard had now assisted the colonists on Feros and rescued Dr. T'soni from her perilous fate. What remained now, was to head to the corporation world of Noveria, and investigate an alleged geth presence there, and the second biggest fish of the mission, the Matriarch Benezia. ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard despised the thought that this monster escaped scot free. He knew he needed to help Garrus take him down. Such is what honor and justice would demand. Not only this, but Garrus was his friend. Shepard wanted to help him. Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard saw how well Wrex disguised his sentiments, but he could feel in the way Wrex discussed the armor that it held value to him, not monetary, but sentimental, the value of honor. Shepard knew that he wanted to help Wrex recover it. Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. Shepard could see in Tali a sweet and kind girl, but one possessed of immense mental strength. She was unafraid and determined to change her world, and to help carve a new path for her people. Something Shepard respected immensely. He cared about her as a friend, he wanted to see her succeed. Shepard knew that if recovering geth data was what would be best for her pilgrimage, he would do it. Shepard's first objective was to track down Dr. Heart for Garrus. The navdata that Garrus supplied to Shepard indicated that the infamous salarian "doctor" was located in the Herschel System of the Kepler Verge. Knowing this, Shepard ordered the Normandy to head to that system. Once they entered the Herschel System, they traveled at FTL speeds and performed frequent scans of system. Shepard was on alert, looking for any sign of the doctor's ship. Finally, the scanners located a human-style cargo ship orbiting a nearby planet. Shepard ordered the Normandy to dock with the freighter. As they docked, he read on the side of the freighter: MSV Fedele. When Shepard asked Garrus about the name, his turian friend informed him that the name checked out. As Garrus requested, Shepard decided to take Garrus along, ordering him to suit up and get ready to board. Anticipating trouble, Shepard also chose Wrex to accompany him - after all, a krogan would come in very handy if they ran into a tight spot. Once his boarding party was ready, Shepard and the team went aboard the Fedele. As they passed through the sterile, eerily quiet passageways of the ship, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex were all very alert. They heard thumping and soft groaning in the chamber ahead. Shepard opened the door seal and they entered carefully. Suddenly, they were set upon by creatures that were barely visible in the poorly lit chamber. They roared and groaned, and charged Shepard and his team. Shepard gave the order to open fire, and the creatures were cut down one at a time, until the chamber was empty. Looking down at one of the corpses, Shepard and his team examined it; a humanoid, stitched and cut, missing various parts of its body. "Looks like Dr. Saleon has been experimenting. Mn. It's gruesome." Garrus said, in a low voice. As Shepard looked upon the desecrated humanoid, he was beyond sickened. He had seen many things in his years, but a person, likely an innocent, butchered in such a way - Saleon was a monster, and had to be stopped. That would be justice. But his mind turned to his vengeance on Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver who killed his family. Was that justice? Maybe. But Goral begged and pleaded, even as Shepard took his life. He wasn't sure anymore. It felt good at the time but...that was not justice. That was hate. Shepard then realized - he couldn't take this person's life out of hate. Nor should Garrus. He would show mercy. Because that sets them above the monsters like Saleon, and Goral. Refocusing on the situation at hand, Shepard and his team moved on, and quite literally the next chamber down, the door opened, and Shepard came face to face with a decrepit old Salarian with a strange face, and doctor's clothes. He must have been hiding from the creatures in the previous room. The salarian spoke quickly as they entered the chamber, "Oh, thank you so much for saving me from those monsters!" Suddenly, Garrus spoke. "Commander, that's him. That's Dr. Saleon." The salarian retorted immediately, "What? No! My name is Heart! Dr. Heart!" Shepard furrowed his brow, narrowing his eyes at the salarian. He turned his head towards Garrus. "You're sure it's him?" Garrus nodded, his voice grim. "Positive." The turian looked to Saleon and snarled, "I'd harvest your organs first, Saleon, but we don't have the time." The salarian doctor spoke frantically, telling Shepard that Garrus was crazy, and pleading to the Commander to let him go. Shepard's eyes remained narrowed. He made his decision. This wouldn't go down like it did on Torfan. Shepard spoke calmly, "We'll take him in." Garrus turned rapidly, in disbelief, "But Commander, we have him!" Shepard turned to Garrus and looked him straight in the eyes. "I know. And we'll hand him over to the military." Garrus pushed back, "Shepard, we can't just let him live, after all he's done!" Shepard attempted to reassure Garrus. "Think, Garrus. If we end him here and now, we'll never figure out how he did it, or all the other crimes he's committed. We'll take him in. He'll do his time, and he'll be punished." Garrus tried to say more but seemed to concede. "I...you're right, Commander." Garrus turned to Saleon, giving him another death glare. "You're a VERY lucky salarian. You owe the Commander your life." The salarian doctor seemed to crack a wicked, scheming smirk. His voice slithered like a snake, "Ohh, thank you so much, Commander..." Just then, the salarian flinched, reaching behind and grabbing hold of his pistol, and, though clumsily, he took aim at Shepard quite quickly. Wrex bellowed out, "Gun!" Like a flash, Shepard drew his own pistol, faster than the blink of an eye. A bang and a smoking hole in the salarian's head was testament to the Commander's quick-drawing skill. The butcher, Dr. Saleon, fell to the floor like a tree. Garrus looked at the dead body of Saleon, and turned to Shepard. "...And he dies anyway. What was the point of that?" Shepard holstered his pistol, and turned to Garrus. "You can't always predict how people will act, Garrus. But what you can do is control how you behave in the situation. That's what counts." Garrus seemed to mull it over for a second, coming to an understanding, "Yeah...huh. You know, I don't think I've ever met someone like you before, Commander." Shepard smiled at Garrus. He was making an impression on his turian friend. Which was good. Garrus had the makings of an excellent soldier and leader, he just needed to calm his impulses. Shepard had to learn this the hard way; his cold-blooded slaying of Goral, how he was almost court-martialed. Anderson taught him much, and he hoped to impart some of that wisdom onto Garrus as well. With the job accomplished, Shepard and his team departed the butcher's ship and returned to the Normandy. ... (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard had a somewhat embarrassed face, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan grumbled loudly in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == bf3f679882a46d4e703c2f57c04de45fd4333e66 168 167 2020-05-19T18:11:57Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Noveria */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous, unflinching sense of honor. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!!" He bellowed, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all his fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "Y-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My-my ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped. Squelching punches continued, even after the batarian's screaming and wailing had ceased. Shepard's fists were covered in blood, and red spray landed upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Unfortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did irreparable damage to his face, giving him a long and nasty scar after the healing process had ended. This scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard felt lucky, though, that he managed to keep his presence on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as was his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher, which, she explained, was essentially the knowledge associated with being a prothean - culture, understanding, senses. Shiala described the Cipher's importance - it was necessary to make sense of the knowledge contained in the prothean beacon, and it also contained the knowledge of how to Saren planned to unleash the Reapers. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher, no matter the cost. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, advanced machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical needs to know about this." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to be patient." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. Kaidan then also reminded Shepard that they had another lead, the asari Dr. Liara T'soni, daughter of Benezia, who was somewhere in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Shepard agreed, and realizing that in order to go up against the Matriarch, her daughter could be useful indeed. He decided that this was their next target. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "We'll beat him at his own game. It's the only way to beat someone like him." Shepard said with certainty. And he meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do. Saren's good. But I'm better." Wrex retorted, "Good? He's rotten to the core." The grizzled krogan began to explain how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day; how he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but from Wrex's testimony, he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. "The ship is so quiet...how do you sleep at night?" She asked, with genuine curiosity. Shepard couldn't help but be amused at this, she clearly wasn't joking. It was actually pretty cute, Shepard thought. He discussed her issue with her, raising a brow inquisitively, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. Shepard nodded, understandingly. He knew the feeling. "You're homesick." Shepard said. Tali nodded ponderously. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where only foot travel would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad descended through the use of a few elevators, making their way down through the dig site, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew instantly - Dr. Liara T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Normandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. Liara went on to explain that even though little information remained on the protheans, even less remained on their predecessors. This was frustrating for her, making it nearly impossible for her and her scientific methods to determine what exactly happened to them. This was a striking moment for Shepard, when he realized that what he held in his brain, what was given to him by the prothean beacon on Eden Prime, was knowledge unknown to even leading scientists. He needed to share it. When Liara had finished explaining her understandings, Shepard proclaimed what he knew. "I think I can help you there, Dr. T'soni. I know what happened to the protheans. They didn't just disappear, they were wiped out, by a race of advanced machines called the Reapers." Liara's eyes widened, and she tilted her head inquisitively, "The...the Reapers? I've never heard of them. How do you know this?" Shepard responded, "I interacted with a damaged prothean beacon from Eden Prime. It showed me...images...of the protheans fate. I saw their destruction by the Reapers." Liara was flabbergasted, completely taken aback. She could scarcely believe it, and when Shepard mentioned the cipher that helped him understand the visions better, Liara was even more curious with knowing that another asari, Shiala from Feros, bestowed it upon him. Finally understanding why Saren and the geth wanted her dead, Liara realized that she too could help Shepard understand the visions better using her own mind-melding ability. Liara requested to perform the same action on Shepard. Shepard was beyond fed up with Saren, and was ready to hunt him down and catch him, once and for all. If this could help him along to that goal, he would do it, regardless of the risks. He agreed to let Liara interface with his mind. As they did, Liara came into contact with the exact same visions Shepard had held in his brain for weeks now. Once the mind-melding was complete, Liara almost fell over but steadied herself. Liara explained to Shepard that she now believed him. She also complimented him, describing his immense strength of will in order to bear that burden the way he did. Shepard was flattered, but he didn't consider it an accomplishment. He was a soldier, a soldier who had seen so many haunting sights and had to live with them. This was just another thing. Or so he thought. Unfortunately, Liara confessed to receiving nothing substantial from the visions themselves, it was all still foggy, and she herself was not well after the mind-melding. Shepard and Kaidan advised that she see Doctor Chakwas. Shepard asked if she was alright, and Liara explained that she would be, with some bedrest and proper nutrition. Shepard was relieved. He didn't want her to come to harm over something like this. "Go ahead and see the doctor, Liara." Shepard turned to the rest of his crew. "The rest of you are dismissed." As his team got up and began returning to their stations, Joker once again offered to patch Shepard through to the Council. He agreed once more to update them on the situation. Once Shepard had established comms with the Council, they questioned if he was taking the proper security precautions with Dr. T'soni. Shepard saw where this was going. "Liara isn't a security threat. She's on our side." The Council stated that they hoped he was right. The turian councilor then questioned Shepard's execution of the mission, asking if the destruction of the prothean ruins on Therum was truly necessary. It took a lot of effort for Shepard to not disconnect the call at such a question, but being a truthful man, he plainly stated that the ruins were overrun with Saren's forces. There was no other way. The salarian councilor agreed with his assessment. After the Council's approval of the mission, the call was ended. Shepard had now assisted the colonists on Feros and rescued Dr. T'soni from her perilous fate. What remained now, was to head to the corporation world of Noveria, and investigate an alleged geth presence there, and the second biggest fish of the mission, the Matriarch Benezia. ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard despised the thought that this monster escaped scot free. He knew he needed to help Garrus take him down. Such is what honor and justice would demand. Not only this, but Garrus was his friend. Shepard wanted to help him. Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard saw how well Wrex disguised his sentiments, but he could feel in the way Wrex discussed the armor that it held value to him, not monetary, but sentimental, the value of honor. Shepard knew that he wanted to help Wrex recover it. Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. Shepard could see in Tali a sweet and kind girl, but one possessed of immense mental strength. She was unafraid and determined to change her world, and to help carve a new path for her people. Something Shepard respected immensely. He cared about her as a friend, he wanted to see her succeed. Shepard knew that if recovering geth data was what would be best for her pilgrimage, he would do it. Shepard's first objective was to track down Dr. Heart for Garrus. The navdata that Garrus supplied to Shepard indicated that the infamous salarian "doctor" was located in the Herschel System of the Kepler Verge. Knowing this, Shepard ordered the Normandy to head to that system. Once they entered the Herschel System, they traveled at FTL speeds and performed frequent scans of system. Shepard was on alert, looking for any sign of the doctor's ship. Finally, the scanners located a human-style cargo ship orbiting a nearby planet. Shepard ordered the Normandy to dock with the freighter. As they docked, he read on the side of the freighter: MSV Fedele. When Shepard asked Garrus about the name, his turian friend informed him that the name checked out. As Garrus requested, Shepard decided to take Garrus along, ordering him to suit up and get ready to board. Anticipating trouble, Shepard also chose Wrex to accompany him - after all, a krogan would come in very handy if they ran into a tight spot. Once his boarding party was ready, Shepard and the team went aboard the Fedele. As they passed through the sterile, eerily quiet passageways of the ship, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex were all very alert. They heard thumping and soft groaning in the chamber ahead. Shepard opened the door seal and they entered carefully. Suddenly, they were set upon by creatures that were barely visible in the poorly lit chamber. They roared and groaned, and charged Shepard and his team. Shepard gave the order to open fire, and the creatures were cut down one at a time, until the chamber was empty. Looking down at one of the corpses, Shepard and his team examined it; a humanoid, stitched and cut, missing various parts of its body. "Looks like Dr. Saleon has been experimenting. Mn. It's gruesome." Garrus said, in a low voice. As Shepard looked upon the desecrated humanoid, he was beyond sickened. He had seen many things in his years, but a person, likely an innocent, butchered in such a way - Saleon was a monster, and had to be stopped. That would be justice. But his mind turned to his vengeance on Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver who killed his family. Was that justice? Maybe. But Goral begged and pleaded, even as Shepard took his life. He wasn't sure anymore. It felt good at the time but...that was not justice. That was hate. Shepard then realized - he couldn't take this person's life out of hate. Nor should Garrus. He would show mercy. Because that sets them above the monsters like Saleon, and Goral. Refocusing on the situation at hand, Shepard and his team moved on, and quite literally the next chamber down, the door opened, and Shepard came face to face with a decrepit old Salarian with a strange face, and doctor's clothes. He must have been hiding from the creatures in the previous room. The salarian spoke quickly as they entered the chamber, "Oh, thank you so much for saving me from those monsters!" Suddenly, Garrus spoke. "Commander, that's him. That's Dr. Saleon." The salarian retorted immediately, "What? No! My name is Heart! Dr. Heart!" Shepard furrowed his brow, narrowing his eyes at the salarian. He turned his head towards Garrus. "You're sure it's him?" Garrus nodded, his voice grim. "Positive." The turian looked to Saleon and snarled, "I'd harvest your organs first, Saleon, but we don't have the time." The salarian doctor spoke frantically, telling Shepard that Garrus was crazy, and pleading to the Commander to let him go. Shepard's eyes remained narrowed. He made his decision. This wouldn't go down like it did on Torfan. Shepard spoke calmly, "We'll take him in." Garrus turned rapidly, in disbelief, "But Commander, we have him!" Shepard turned to Garrus and looked him straight in the eyes. "I know. And we'll hand him over to the military." Garrus pushed back, "Shepard, we can't just let him live, after all he's done!" Shepard attempted to reassure Garrus. "Think, Garrus. If we end him here and now, we'll never figure out how he did it, or all the other crimes he's committed. We'll take him in. He'll do his time, and he'll be punished." Garrus tried to say more but seemed to concede. "I...you're right, Commander." Garrus turned to Saleon, giving him another death glare. "You're a VERY lucky salarian. You owe the Commander your life." The salarian doctor seemed to crack a wicked, scheming smirk. His voice slithered like a snake, "Ohh, thank you so much, Commander..." Just then, the salarian flinched, reaching behind and grabbing hold of his pistol, and, though clumsily, he took aim at Shepard quite quickly. Wrex bellowed out, "Gun!" Like a flash, Shepard drew his own pistol, faster than the blink of an eye. A bang and a smoking hole in the salarian's head was testament to the Commander's quick-drawing skill. The butcher, Dr. Saleon, fell to the floor like a tree. Garrus looked at the dead body of Saleon, and turned to Shepard. "...And he dies anyway. What was the point of that?" Shepard holstered his pistol, and turned to Garrus. "You can't always predict how people will act, Garrus. But what you can do is control how you behave in the situation. That's what counts." Garrus seemed to mull it over for a second, coming to an understanding, "Yeah...huh. You know, I don't think I've ever met someone like you before, Commander." Shepard smiled at Garrus. He was making an impression on his turian friend. Which was good. Garrus had the makings of an excellent soldier and leader, he just needed to calm his impulses. Shepard had to learn this the hard way; his cold-blooded slaying of Goral, how he was almost court-martialed. Anderson taught him much, and he hoped to impart some of that wisdom onto Garrus as well. With the job accomplished, Shepard and his team departed the butcher's ship and returned to the Normandy. ... (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard was rather embarrassed, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan grumbled loudly in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 316b1825d5e5b4792dbbf2f5b5f4abba1196dff5 169 168 2022-06-28T16:12:19Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous will and ability to survive. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew utterly close together as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!!" He bellowed, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all his fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "Y-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My-my ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped. Squelching punches continued, even after the batarian's screaming and wailing had ceased. Shepard's fists were covered in blood, and red spray landed upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Unfortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did irreparable damage to his face, giving him a long and nasty scar after the healing process had ended. This scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard felt lucky, though, that he managed to keep his presence on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as was his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher, which, she explained, was essentially the knowledge associated with being a prothean - culture, understanding, senses. Shiala described the Cipher's importance - it was necessary to make sense of the knowledge contained in the prothean beacon, and it also contained the knowledge of how to Saren planned to unleash the Reapers. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher, no matter the cost. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, advanced machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical needs to know about this." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to be patient." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. Kaidan then also reminded Shepard that they had another lead, the asari Dr. Liara T'soni, daughter of Benezia, who was somewhere in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Shepard agreed, and realizing that in order to go up against the Matriarch, her daughter could be useful indeed. He decided that this was their next target. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "We'll beat him at his own game. It's the only way to beat someone like him." Shepard said with certainty. And he meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do. Saren's good. But I'm better." Wrex retorted, "Good? He's rotten to the core." The grizzled krogan began to explain how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day; how he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but from Wrex's testimony, he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. "The ship is so quiet...how do you sleep at night?" She asked, with genuine curiosity. Shepard couldn't help but be amused at this, she clearly wasn't joking. It was actually pretty cute, Shepard thought. He discussed her issue with her, raising a brow inquisitively, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. Shepard nodded, understandingly. He knew the feeling. "You're homesick." Shepard said. Tali nodded ponderously. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where only foot travel would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad descended through the use of a few elevators, making their way down through the dig site, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew instantly - Dr. Liara T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Normandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. Liara went on to explain that even though little information remained on the protheans, even less remained on their predecessors. This was frustrating for her, making it nearly impossible for her and her scientific methods to determine what exactly happened to them. This was a striking moment for Shepard, when he realized that what he held in his brain, what was given to him by the prothean beacon on Eden Prime, was knowledge unknown to even leading scientists. He needed to share it. When Liara had finished explaining her understandings, Shepard proclaimed what he knew. "I think I can help you there, Dr. T'soni. I know what happened to the protheans. They didn't just disappear, they were wiped out, by a race of advanced machines called the Reapers." Liara's eyes widened, and she tilted her head inquisitively, "The...the Reapers? I've never heard of them. How do you know this?" Shepard responded, "I interacted with a damaged prothean beacon from Eden Prime. It showed me...images...of the protheans fate. I saw their destruction by the Reapers." Liara was flabbergasted, completely taken aback. She could scarcely believe it, and when Shepard mentioned the cipher that helped him understand the visions better, Liara was even more curious with knowing that another asari, Shiala from Feros, bestowed it upon him. Finally understanding why Saren and the geth wanted her dead, Liara realized that she too could help Shepard understand the visions better using her own mind-melding ability. Liara requested to perform the same action on Shepard. Shepard was beyond fed up with Saren, and was ready to hunt him down and catch him, once and for all. If this could help him along to that goal, he would do it, regardless of the risks. He agreed to let Liara interface with his mind. As they did, Liara came into contact with the exact same visions Shepard had held in his brain for weeks now. Once the mind-melding was complete, Liara almost fell over but steadied herself. Liara explained to Shepard that she now believed him. She also complimented him, describing his immense strength of will in order to bear that burden the way he did. Shepard was flattered, but he didn't consider it an accomplishment. He was a soldier, a soldier who had seen so many haunting sights and had to live with them. This was just another thing. Or so he thought. Unfortunately, Liara confessed to receiving nothing substantial from the visions themselves, it was all still foggy, and she herself was not well after the mind-melding. Shepard and Kaidan advised that she see Doctor Chakwas. Shepard asked if she was alright, and Liara explained that she would be, with some bedrest and proper nutrition. Shepard was relieved. He didn't want her to come to harm over something like this. "Go ahead and see the doctor, Liara." Shepard turned to the rest of his crew. "The rest of you are dismissed." As his team got up and began returning to their stations, Joker once again offered to patch Shepard through to the Council. He agreed once more to update them on the situation. Once Shepard had established comms with the Council, they questioned if he was taking the proper security precautions with Dr. T'soni. Shepard saw where this was going. "Liara isn't a security threat. She's on our side." The Council stated that they hoped he was right. The turian councilor then questioned Shepard's execution of the mission, asking if the destruction of the prothean ruins on Therum was truly necessary. It took a lot of effort for Shepard to not disconnect the call at such a question, but being a truthful man, he plainly stated that the ruins were overrun with Saren's forces. There was no other way. The salarian councilor agreed with his assessment. After the Council's approval of the mission, the call was ended. Shepard had now assisted the colonists on Feros and rescued Dr. T'soni from her perilous fate. What remained now, was to head to the corporation world of Noveria, and investigate an alleged geth presence there, and the second biggest fish of the mission, the Matriarch Benezia. ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard despised the thought that this monster escaped scot free. He knew he needed to help Garrus take him down. Such is what honor and justice would demand. Not only this, but Garrus was his friend. Shepard wanted to help him. Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard saw how well Wrex disguised his sentiments, but he could feel in the way Wrex discussed the armor that it held value to him, not monetary, but sentimental, the value of honor. Shepard knew that he wanted to help Wrex recover it. Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. Shepard could see in Tali a sweet and kind girl, but one possessed of immense mental strength. She was unafraid and determined to change her world, and to help carve a new path for her people. Something Shepard respected immensely. He cared about her as a friend, he wanted to see her succeed. Shepard knew that if recovering geth data was what would be best for her pilgrimage, he would do it. Shepard's first objective was to track down Dr. Heart for Garrus. The navdata that Garrus supplied to Shepard indicated that the infamous salarian "doctor" was located in the Herschel System of the Kepler Verge. Knowing this, Shepard ordered the Normandy to head to that system. Once they entered the Herschel System, they traveled at FTL speeds and performed frequent scans of system. Shepard was on alert, looking for any sign of the doctor's ship. Finally, the scanners located a human-style cargo ship orbiting a nearby planet. Shepard ordered the Normandy to dock with the freighter. As they docked, he read on the side of the freighter: MSV Fedele. When Shepard asked Garrus about the name, his turian friend informed him that the name checked out. As Garrus requested, Shepard decided to take Garrus along, ordering him to suit up and get ready to board. Anticipating trouble, Shepard also chose Wrex to accompany him - after all, a krogan would come in very handy if they ran into a tight spot. Once his boarding party was ready, Shepard and the team went aboard the Fedele. As they passed through the sterile, eerily quiet passageways of the ship, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex were all very alert. They heard thumping and soft groaning in the chamber ahead. Shepard opened the door seal and they entered carefully. Suddenly, they were set upon by creatures that were barely visible in the poorly lit chamber. They roared and groaned, and charged Shepard and his team. Shepard gave the order to open fire, and the creatures were cut down one at a time, until the chamber was empty. Looking down at one of the corpses, Shepard and his team examined it; a humanoid, stitched and cut, missing various parts of its body. "Looks like Dr. Saleon has been experimenting. Mn. It's gruesome." Garrus said, in a low voice. As Shepard looked upon the desecrated humanoid, he was beyond sickened. He had seen many things in his years, but a person, likely an innocent, butchered in such a way - Saleon was a monster, and had to be stopped. That would be justice. But his mind turned to his vengeance on Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver who killed his family. Was that justice? Maybe. But Goral begged and pleaded, even as Shepard took his life. He wasn't sure anymore. It felt good at the time but...that was not justice. That was hate. Shepard then realized - he couldn't take this person's life out of hate. Nor should Garrus. He would show mercy. Because that sets them above the monsters like Saleon, and Goral. Refocusing on the situation at hand, Shepard and his team moved on, and quite literally the next chamber down, the door opened, and Shepard came face to face with a decrepit old Salarian with a strange face, and doctor's clothes. He must have been hiding from the creatures in the previous room. The salarian spoke quickly as they entered the chamber, "Oh, thank you so much for saving me from those monsters!" Suddenly, Garrus spoke. "Commander, that's him. That's Dr. Saleon." The salarian retorted immediately, "What? No! My name is Heart! Dr. Heart!" Shepard furrowed his brow, narrowing his eyes at the salarian. He turned his head towards Garrus. "You're sure it's him?" Garrus nodded, his voice grim. "Positive." The turian looked to Saleon and snarled, "I'd harvest your organs first, Saleon, but we don't have the time." The salarian doctor spoke frantically, telling Shepard that Garrus was crazy, and pleading to the Commander to let him go. Shepard's eyes remained narrowed. He made his decision. This wouldn't go down like it did on Torfan. Shepard spoke calmly, "We'll take him in." Garrus turned rapidly, in disbelief, "But Commander, we have him!" Shepard turned to Garrus and looked him straight in the eyes. "I know. And we'll hand him over to the military." Garrus pushed back, "Shepard, we can't just let him live, after all he's done!" Shepard attempted to reassure Garrus. "Think, Garrus. If we end him here and now, we'll never figure out how he did it, or all the other crimes he's committed. We'll take him in. He'll do his time, and he'll be punished." Garrus tried to say more but seemed to concede. "I...you're right, Commander." Garrus turned to Saleon, giving him another death glare. "You're a VERY lucky salarian. You owe the Commander your life." The salarian doctor seemed to crack a wicked, scheming smirk. His voice slithered like a snake, "Ohh, thank you so much, Commander..." Just then, the salarian flinched, reaching behind and grabbing hold of his pistol, and, though clumsily, he took aim at Shepard quite quickly. Wrex bellowed out, "Gun!" Like a flash, Shepard drew his own pistol, faster than the blink of an eye. A bang and a smoking hole in the salarian's head was testament to the Commander's quick-drawing skill. The butcher, Dr. Saleon, fell to the floor like a tree. Garrus looked at the dead body of Saleon, and turned to Shepard. "...And he dies anyway. What was the point of that?" Shepard holstered his pistol, and turned to Garrus. "You can't always predict how people will act, Garrus. But what you can do is control how you behave in the situation. That's what counts." Garrus seemed to mull it over for a second, coming to an understanding, "Yeah...huh. You know, I don't think I've ever met someone like you before, Commander." Shepard smiled at Garrus. He was making an impression on his turian friend. Which was good. Garrus had the makings of an excellent soldier and leader, he just needed to calm his impulses. Shepard had to learn this the hard way; his cold-blooded slaying of Goral, how he was almost court-martialed. Anderson taught him much, and he hoped to impart some of that wisdom onto Garrus as well. With the job accomplished, Shepard and his team departed the butcher's ship and returned to the Normandy. ... (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard was rather embarrassed, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan grumbled loudly in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 2b3f4b429524718e1a04cc99948063b9e1be7f45 170 169 2022-06-28T16:14:34Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous will and ability to survive. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew very close as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living towards the end. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!!" He bellowed, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all his fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "Y-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My-my ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped. Squelching punches continued, even after the batarian's screaming and wailing had ceased. Shepard's fists were covered in blood, and red spray landed upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Unfortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did irreparable damage to his face, giving him a long and nasty scar after the healing process had ended. This scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard felt lucky, though, that he managed to keep his presence on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as was his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher, which, she explained, was essentially the knowledge associated with being a prothean - culture, understanding, senses. Shiala described the Cipher's importance - it was necessary to make sense of the knowledge contained in the prothean beacon, and it also contained the knowledge of how to Saren planned to unleash the Reapers. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher, no matter the cost. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, advanced machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical needs to know about this." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to be patient." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. Kaidan then also reminded Shepard that they had another lead, the asari Dr. Liara T'soni, daughter of Benezia, who was somewhere in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Shepard agreed, and realizing that in order to go up against the Matriarch, her daughter could be useful indeed. He decided that this was their next target. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "We'll beat him at his own game. It's the only way to beat someone like him." Shepard said with certainty. And he meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do. Saren's good. But I'm better." Wrex retorted, "Good? He's rotten to the core." The grizzled krogan began to explain how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day; how he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but from Wrex's testimony, he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. "The ship is so quiet...how do you sleep at night?" She asked, with genuine curiosity. Shepard couldn't help but be amused at this, she clearly wasn't joking. It was actually pretty cute, Shepard thought. He discussed her issue with her, raising a brow inquisitively, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. Shepard nodded, understandingly. He knew the feeling. "You're homesick." Shepard said. Tali nodded ponderously. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where only foot travel would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad descended through the use of a few elevators, making their way down through the dig site, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew instantly - Dr. Liara T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Normandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. Liara went on to explain that even though little information remained on the protheans, even less remained on their predecessors. This was frustrating for her, making it nearly impossible for her and her scientific methods to determine what exactly happened to them. This was a striking moment for Shepard, when he realized that what he held in his brain, what was given to him by the prothean beacon on Eden Prime, was knowledge unknown to even leading scientists. He needed to share it. When Liara had finished explaining her understandings, Shepard proclaimed what he knew. "I think I can help you there, Dr. T'soni. I know what happened to the protheans. They didn't just disappear, they were wiped out, by a race of advanced machines called the Reapers." Liara's eyes widened, and she tilted her head inquisitively, "The...the Reapers? I've never heard of them. How do you know this?" Shepard responded, "I interacted with a damaged prothean beacon from Eden Prime. It showed me...images...of the protheans fate. I saw their destruction by the Reapers." Liara was flabbergasted, completely taken aback. She could scarcely believe it, and when Shepard mentioned the cipher that helped him understand the visions better, Liara was even more curious with knowing that another asari, Shiala from Feros, bestowed it upon him. Finally understanding why Saren and the geth wanted her dead, Liara realized that she too could help Shepard understand the visions better using her own mind-melding ability. Liara requested to perform the same action on Shepard. Shepard was beyond fed up with Saren, and was ready to hunt him down and catch him, once and for all. If this could help him along to that goal, he would do it, regardless of the risks. He agreed to let Liara interface with his mind. As they did, Liara came into contact with the exact same visions Shepard had held in his brain for weeks now. Once the mind-melding was complete, Liara almost fell over but steadied herself. Liara explained to Shepard that she now believed him. She also complimented him, describing his immense strength of will in order to bear that burden the way he did. Shepard was flattered, but he didn't consider it an accomplishment. He was a soldier, a soldier who had seen so many haunting sights and had to live with them. This was just another thing. Or so he thought. Unfortunately, Liara confessed to receiving nothing substantial from the visions themselves, it was all still foggy, and she herself was not well after the mind-melding. Shepard and Kaidan advised that she see Doctor Chakwas. Shepard asked if she was alright, and Liara explained that she would be, with some bedrest and proper nutrition. Shepard was relieved. He didn't want her to come to harm over something like this. "Go ahead and see the doctor, Liara." Shepard turned to the rest of his crew. "The rest of you are dismissed." As his team got up and began returning to their stations, Joker once again offered to patch Shepard through to the Council. He agreed once more to update them on the situation. Once Shepard had established comms with the Council, they questioned if he was taking the proper security precautions with Dr. T'soni. Shepard saw where this was going. "Liara isn't a security threat. She's on our side." The Council stated that they hoped he was right. The turian councilor then questioned Shepard's execution of the mission, asking if the destruction of the prothean ruins on Therum was truly necessary. It took a lot of effort for Shepard to not disconnect the call at such a question, but being a truthful man, he plainly stated that the ruins were overrun with Saren's forces. There was no other way. The salarian councilor agreed with his assessment. After the Council's approval of the mission, the call was ended. Shepard had now assisted the colonists on Feros and rescued Dr. T'soni from her perilous fate. What remained now, was to head to the corporation world of Noveria, and investigate an alleged geth presence there, and the second biggest fish of the mission, the Matriarch Benezia. ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard despised the thought that this monster escaped scot free. He knew he needed to help Garrus take him down. Such is what honor and justice would demand. Not only this, but Garrus was his friend. Shepard wanted to help him. Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard saw how well Wrex disguised his sentiments, but he could feel in the way Wrex discussed the armor that it held value to him, not monetary, but sentimental, the value of honor. Shepard knew that he wanted to help Wrex recover it. Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. Shepard could see in Tali a sweet and kind girl, but one possessed of immense mental strength. She was unafraid and determined to change her world, and to help carve a new path for her people. Something Shepard respected immensely. He cared about her as a friend, he wanted to see her succeed. Shepard knew that if recovering geth data was what would be best for her pilgrimage, he would do it. Shepard's first objective was to track down Dr. Heart for Garrus. The navdata that Garrus supplied to Shepard indicated that the infamous salarian "doctor" was located in the Herschel System of the Kepler Verge. Knowing this, Shepard ordered the Normandy to head to that system. Once they entered the Herschel System, they traveled at FTL speeds and performed frequent scans of system. Shepard was on alert, looking for any sign of the doctor's ship. Finally, the scanners located a human-style cargo ship orbiting a nearby planet. Shepard ordered the Normandy to dock with the freighter. As they docked, he read on the side of the freighter: MSV Fedele. When Shepard asked Garrus about the name, his turian friend informed him that the name checked out. As Garrus requested, Shepard decided to take Garrus along, ordering him to suit up and get ready to board. Anticipating trouble, Shepard also chose Wrex to accompany him - after all, a krogan would come in very handy if they ran into a tight spot. Once his boarding party was ready, Shepard and the team went aboard the Fedele. As they passed through the sterile, eerily quiet passageways of the ship, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex were all very alert. They heard thumping and soft groaning in the chamber ahead. Shepard opened the door seal and they entered carefully. Suddenly, they were set upon by creatures that were barely visible in the poorly lit chamber. They roared and groaned, and charged Shepard and his team. Shepard gave the order to open fire, and the creatures were cut down one at a time, until the chamber was empty. Looking down at one of the corpses, Shepard and his team examined it; a humanoid, stitched and cut, missing various parts of its body. "Looks like Dr. Saleon has been experimenting. Mn. It's gruesome." Garrus said, in a low voice. As Shepard looked upon the desecrated humanoid, he was beyond sickened. He had seen many things in his years, but a person, likely an innocent, butchered in such a way - Saleon was a monster, and had to be stopped. That would be justice. But his mind turned to his vengeance on Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver who killed his family. Was that justice? Maybe. But Goral begged and pleaded, even as Shepard took his life. He wasn't sure anymore. It felt good at the time but...that was not justice. That was hate. Shepard then realized - he couldn't take this person's life out of hate. Nor should Garrus. He would show mercy. Because that sets them above the monsters like Saleon, and Goral. Refocusing on the situation at hand, Shepard and his team moved on, and quite literally the next chamber down, the door opened, and Shepard came face to face with a decrepit old Salarian with a strange face, and doctor's clothes. He must have been hiding from the creatures in the previous room. The salarian spoke quickly as they entered the chamber, "Oh, thank you so much for saving me from those monsters!" Suddenly, Garrus spoke. "Commander, that's him. That's Dr. Saleon." The salarian retorted immediately, "What? No! My name is Heart! Dr. Heart!" Shepard furrowed his brow, narrowing his eyes at the salarian. He turned his head towards Garrus. "You're sure it's him?" Garrus nodded, his voice grim. "Positive." The turian looked to Saleon and snarled, "I'd harvest your organs first, Saleon, but we don't have the time." The salarian doctor spoke frantically, telling Shepard that Garrus was crazy, and pleading to the Commander to let him go. Shepard's eyes remained narrowed. He made his decision. This wouldn't go down like it did on Torfan. Shepard spoke calmly, "We'll take him in." Garrus turned rapidly, in disbelief, "But Commander, we have him!" Shepard turned to Garrus and looked him straight in the eyes. "I know. And we'll hand him over to the military." Garrus pushed back, "Shepard, we can't just let him live, after all he's done!" Shepard attempted to reassure Garrus. "Think, Garrus. If we end him here and now, we'll never figure out how he did it, or all the other crimes he's committed. We'll take him in. He'll do his time, and he'll be punished." Garrus tried to say more but seemed to concede. "I...you're right, Commander." Garrus turned to Saleon, giving him another death glare. "You're a VERY lucky salarian. You owe the Commander your life." The salarian doctor seemed to crack a wicked, scheming smirk. His voice slithered like a snake, "Ohh, thank you so much, Commander..." Just then, the salarian flinched, reaching behind and grabbing hold of his pistol, and, though clumsily, he took aim at Shepard quite quickly. Wrex bellowed out, "Gun!" Like a flash, Shepard drew his own pistol, faster than the blink of an eye. A bang and a smoking hole in the salarian's head was testament to the Commander's quick-drawing skill. The butcher, Dr. Saleon, fell to the floor like a tree. Garrus looked at the dead body of Saleon, and turned to Shepard. "...And he dies anyway. What was the point of that?" Shepard holstered his pistol, and turned to Garrus. "You can't always predict how people will act, Garrus. But what you can do is control how you behave in the situation. That's what counts." Garrus seemed to mull it over for a second, coming to an understanding, "Yeah...huh. You know, I don't think I've ever met someone like you before, Commander." Shepard smiled at Garrus. He was making an impression on his turian friend. Which was good. Garrus had the makings of an excellent soldier and leader, he just needed to calm his impulses. Shepard had to learn this the hard way; his cold-blooded slaying of Goral, how he was almost court-martialed. Anderson taught him much, and he hoped to impart some of that wisdom onto Garrus as well. With the job accomplished, Shepard and his team departed the butcher's ship and returned to the Normandy. ... (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard was rather embarrassed, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan grumbled loudly in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 7fe84cb4d919f73267dde3552fa64da74a7ae640 171 170 2022-06-28T16:15:08Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous will and ability to survive. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew very close as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living in the darkest moments, his reason for pushing on. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent much of that night comforting the grieving men and women and trying to raise them up from desperation. The batarians did not care, they simply mocked him. Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!!" He bellowed, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all his fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "Y-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My-my ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped. Squelching punches continued, even after the batarian's screaming and wailing had ceased. Shepard's fists were covered in blood, and red spray landed upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Unfortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did irreparable damage to his face, giving him a long and nasty scar after the healing process had ended. This scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard felt lucky, though, that he managed to keep his presence on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as was his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher, which, she explained, was essentially the knowledge associated with being a prothean - culture, understanding, senses. Shiala described the Cipher's importance - it was necessary to make sense of the knowledge contained in the prothean beacon, and it also contained the knowledge of how to Saren planned to unleash the Reapers. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher, no matter the cost. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, advanced machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical needs to know about this." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to be patient." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. Kaidan then also reminded Shepard that they had another lead, the asari Dr. Liara T'soni, daughter of Benezia, who was somewhere in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Shepard agreed, and realizing that in order to go up against the Matriarch, her daughter could be useful indeed. He decided that this was their next target. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "We'll beat him at his own game. It's the only way to beat someone like him." Shepard said with certainty. And he meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do. Saren's good. But I'm better." Wrex retorted, "Good? He's rotten to the core." The grizzled krogan began to explain how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day; how he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but from Wrex's testimony, he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. "The ship is so quiet...how do you sleep at night?" She asked, with genuine curiosity. Shepard couldn't help but be amused at this, she clearly wasn't joking. It was actually pretty cute, Shepard thought. He discussed her issue with her, raising a brow inquisitively, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. Shepard nodded, understandingly. He knew the feeling. "You're homesick." Shepard said. Tali nodded ponderously. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where only foot travel would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad descended through the use of a few elevators, making their way down through the dig site, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew instantly - Dr. Liara T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Normandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. Liara went on to explain that even though little information remained on the protheans, even less remained on their predecessors. This was frustrating for her, making it nearly impossible for her and her scientific methods to determine what exactly happened to them. This was a striking moment for Shepard, when he realized that what he held in his brain, what was given to him by the prothean beacon on Eden Prime, was knowledge unknown to even leading scientists. He needed to share it. When Liara had finished explaining her understandings, Shepard proclaimed what he knew. "I think I can help you there, Dr. T'soni. I know what happened to the protheans. They didn't just disappear, they were wiped out, by a race of advanced machines called the Reapers." Liara's eyes widened, and she tilted her head inquisitively, "The...the Reapers? I've never heard of them. How do you know this?" Shepard responded, "I interacted with a damaged prothean beacon from Eden Prime. It showed me...images...of the protheans fate. I saw their destruction by the Reapers." Liara was flabbergasted, completely taken aback. She could scarcely believe it, and when Shepard mentioned the cipher that helped him understand the visions better, Liara was even more curious with knowing that another asari, Shiala from Feros, bestowed it upon him. Finally understanding why Saren and the geth wanted her dead, Liara realized that she too could help Shepard understand the visions better using her own mind-melding ability. Liara requested to perform the same action on Shepard. Shepard was beyond fed up with Saren, and was ready to hunt him down and catch him, once and for all. If this could help him along to that goal, he would do it, regardless of the risks. He agreed to let Liara interface with his mind. As they did, Liara came into contact with the exact same visions Shepard had held in his brain for weeks now. Once the mind-melding was complete, Liara almost fell over but steadied herself. Liara explained to Shepard that she now believed him. She also complimented him, describing his immense strength of will in order to bear that burden the way he did. Shepard was flattered, but he didn't consider it an accomplishment. He was a soldier, a soldier who had seen so many haunting sights and had to live with them. This was just another thing. Or so he thought. Unfortunately, Liara confessed to receiving nothing substantial from the visions themselves, it was all still foggy, and she herself was not well after the mind-melding. Shepard and Kaidan advised that she see Doctor Chakwas. Shepard asked if she was alright, and Liara explained that she would be, with some bedrest and proper nutrition. Shepard was relieved. He didn't want her to come to harm over something like this. "Go ahead and see the doctor, Liara." Shepard turned to the rest of his crew. "The rest of you are dismissed." As his team got up and began returning to their stations, Joker once again offered to patch Shepard through to the Council. He agreed once more to update them on the situation. Once Shepard had established comms with the Council, they questioned if he was taking the proper security precautions with Dr. T'soni. Shepard saw where this was going. "Liara isn't a security threat. She's on our side." The Council stated that they hoped he was right. The turian councilor then questioned Shepard's execution of the mission, asking if the destruction of the prothean ruins on Therum was truly necessary. It took a lot of effort for Shepard to not disconnect the call at such a question, but being a truthful man, he plainly stated that the ruins were overrun with Saren's forces. There was no other way. The salarian councilor agreed with his assessment. After the Council's approval of the mission, the call was ended. Shepard had now assisted the colonists on Feros and rescued Dr. T'soni from her perilous fate. What remained now, was to head to the corporation world of Noveria, and investigate an alleged geth presence there, and the second biggest fish of the mission, the Matriarch Benezia. ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard despised the thought that this monster escaped scot free. He knew he needed to help Garrus take him down. Such is what honor and justice would demand. Not only this, but Garrus was his friend. Shepard wanted to help him. Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard saw how well Wrex disguised his sentiments, but he could feel in the way Wrex discussed the armor that it held value to him, not monetary, but sentimental, the value of honor. Shepard knew that he wanted to help Wrex recover it. Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. Shepard could see in Tali a sweet and kind girl, but one possessed of immense mental strength. She was unafraid and determined to change her world, and to help carve a new path for her people. Something Shepard respected immensely. He cared about her as a friend, he wanted to see her succeed. Shepard knew that if recovering geth data was what would be best for her pilgrimage, he would do it. Shepard's first objective was to track down Dr. Heart for Garrus. The navdata that Garrus supplied to Shepard indicated that the infamous salarian "doctor" was located in the Herschel System of the Kepler Verge. Knowing this, Shepard ordered the Normandy to head to that system. Once they entered the Herschel System, they traveled at FTL speeds and performed frequent scans of system. Shepard was on alert, looking for any sign of the doctor's ship. Finally, the scanners located a human-style cargo ship orbiting a nearby planet. Shepard ordered the Normandy to dock with the freighter. As they docked, he read on the side of the freighter: MSV Fedele. When Shepard asked Garrus about the name, his turian friend informed him that the name checked out. As Garrus requested, Shepard decided to take Garrus along, ordering him to suit up and get ready to board. Anticipating trouble, Shepard also chose Wrex to accompany him - after all, a krogan would come in very handy if they ran into a tight spot. Once his boarding party was ready, Shepard and the team went aboard the Fedele. As they passed through the sterile, eerily quiet passageways of the ship, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex were all very alert. They heard thumping and soft groaning in the chamber ahead. Shepard opened the door seal and they entered carefully. Suddenly, they were set upon by creatures that were barely visible in the poorly lit chamber. They roared and groaned, and charged Shepard and his team. Shepard gave the order to open fire, and the creatures were cut down one at a time, until the chamber was empty. Looking down at one of the corpses, Shepard and his team examined it; a humanoid, stitched and cut, missing various parts of its body. "Looks like Dr. Saleon has been experimenting. Mn. It's gruesome." Garrus said, in a low voice. As Shepard looked upon the desecrated humanoid, he was beyond sickened. He had seen many things in his years, but a person, likely an innocent, butchered in such a way - Saleon was a monster, and had to be stopped. That would be justice. But his mind turned to his vengeance on Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver who killed his family. Was that justice? Maybe. But Goral begged and pleaded, even as Shepard took his life. He wasn't sure anymore. It felt good at the time but...that was not justice. That was hate. Shepard then realized - he couldn't take this person's life out of hate. Nor should Garrus. He would show mercy. Because that sets them above the monsters like Saleon, and Goral. Refocusing on the situation at hand, Shepard and his team moved on, and quite literally the next chamber down, the door opened, and Shepard came face to face with a decrepit old Salarian with a strange face, and doctor's clothes. He must have been hiding from the creatures in the previous room. The salarian spoke quickly as they entered the chamber, "Oh, thank you so much for saving me from those monsters!" Suddenly, Garrus spoke. "Commander, that's him. That's Dr. Saleon." The salarian retorted immediately, "What? No! My name is Heart! Dr. Heart!" Shepard furrowed his brow, narrowing his eyes at the salarian. He turned his head towards Garrus. "You're sure it's him?" Garrus nodded, his voice grim. "Positive." The turian looked to Saleon and snarled, "I'd harvest your organs first, Saleon, but we don't have the time." The salarian doctor spoke frantically, telling Shepard that Garrus was crazy, and pleading to the Commander to let him go. Shepard's eyes remained narrowed. He made his decision. This wouldn't go down like it did on Torfan. Shepard spoke calmly, "We'll take him in." Garrus turned rapidly, in disbelief, "But Commander, we have him!" Shepard turned to Garrus and looked him straight in the eyes. "I know. And we'll hand him over to the military." Garrus pushed back, "Shepard, we can't just let him live, after all he's done!" Shepard attempted to reassure Garrus. "Think, Garrus. If we end him here and now, we'll never figure out how he did it, or all the other crimes he's committed. We'll take him in. He'll do his time, and he'll be punished." Garrus tried to say more but seemed to concede. "I...you're right, Commander." Garrus turned to Saleon, giving him another death glare. "You're a VERY lucky salarian. You owe the Commander your life." The salarian doctor seemed to crack a wicked, scheming smirk. His voice slithered like a snake, "Ohh, thank you so much, Commander..." Just then, the salarian flinched, reaching behind and grabbing hold of his pistol, and, though clumsily, he took aim at Shepard quite quickly. Wrex bellowed out, "Gun!" Like a flash, Shepard drew his own pistol, faster than the blink of an eye. A bang and a smoking hole in the salarian's head was testament to the Commander's quick-drawing skill. The butcher, Dr. Saleon, fell to the floor like a tree. Garrus looked at the dead body of Saleon, and turned to Shepard. "...And he dies anyway. What was the point of that?" Shepard holstered his pistol, and turned to Garrus. "You can't always predict how people will act, Garrus. But what you can do is control how you behave in the situation. That's what counts." Garrus seemed to mull it over for a second, coming to an understanding, "Yeah...huh. You know, I don't think I've ever met someone like you before, Commander." Shepard smiled at Garrus. He was making an impression on his turian friend. Which was good. Garrus had the makings of an excellent soldier and leader, he just needed to calm his impulses. Shepard had to learn this the hard way; his cold-blooded slaying of Goral, how he was almost court-martialed. Anderson taught him much, and he hoped to impart some of that wisdom onto Garrus as well. With the job accomplished, Shepard and his team departed the butcher's ship and returned to the Normandy. ... (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard was rather embarrassed, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan grumbled loudly in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == e091d6ef1756e3a6a45d0060d9de7f55c4d5b10d 172 171 2022-06-28T16:33:35Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous will and ability to survive. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew very close as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living in the darkest moments, his reason for pushing on. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent the entire night in silence, scarcely moving and and never raising his eyes from the dry blood-spattered dirt beneath him. He didn’t sleep, he didn’t eat. He couldn’t, for he barely felt alive. Over and over in his mind, the sights and sounds replayed in his mind. The screams of his parents. Watching them bleed and burn, and die. Echoed by the wails and screams of those around him, whose lives were destroyed. Why did they have to die? Why couldn’t he save them? These thoughts wracked his mind, as he could still see them die before his eyes. Victor tried to remember again, what he learned from his parents. He tried to shake off the horror, the pain. ‘I will endure. I will survive.” Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a people person, a reliable and dependable soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!!" He bellowed, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all his fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "Y-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My-my ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped. Squelching punches continued, even after the batarian's screaming and wailing had ceased. Shepard's fists were covered in blood, and red spray landed upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Unfortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did irreparable damage to his face, giving him a long and nasty scar after the healing process had ended. This scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard felt lucky, though, that he managed to keep his presence on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as was his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher, which, she explained, was essentially the knowledge associated with being a prothean - culture, understanding, senses. Shiala described the Cipher's importance - it was necessary to make sense of the knowledge contained in the prothean beacon, and it also contained the knowledge of how to Saren planned to unleash the Reapers. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher, no matter the cost. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, advanced machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical needs to know about this." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to be patient." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. Kaidan then also reminded Shepard that they had another lead, the asari Dr. Liara T'soni, daughter of Benezia, who was somewhere in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Shepard agreed, and realizing that in order to go up against the Matriarch, her daughter could be useful indeed. He decided that this was their next target. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "We'll beat him at his own game. It's the only way to beat someone like him." Shepard said with certainty. And he meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do. Saren's good. But I'm better." Wrex retorted, "Good? He's rotten to the core." The grizzled krogan began to explain how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day; how he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but from Wrex's testimony, he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. "The ship is so quiet...how do you sleep at night?" She asked, with genuine curiosity. Shepard couldn't help but be amused at this, she clearly wasn't joking. It was actually pretty cute, Shepard thought. He discussed her issue with her, raising a brow inquisitively, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. Shepard nodded, understandingly. He knew the feeling. "You're homesick." Shepard said. Tali nodded ponderously. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where only foot travel would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad descended through the use of a few elevators, making their way down through the dig site, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew instantly - Dr. Liara T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Normandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. Liara went on to explain that even though little information remained on the protheans, even less remained on their predecessors. This was frustrating for her, making it nearly impossible for her and her scientific methods to determine what exactly happened to them. This was a striking moment for Shepard, when he realized that what he held in his brain, what was given to him by the prothean beacon on Eden Prime, was knowledge unknown to even leading scientists. He needed to share it. When Liara had finished explaining her understandings, Shepard proclaimed what he knew. "I think I can help you there, Dr. T'soni. I know what happened to the protheans. They didn't just disappear, they were wiped out, by a race of advanced machines called the Reapers." Liara's eyes widened, and she tilted her head inquisitively, "The...the Reapers? I've never heard of them. How do you know this?" Shepard responded, "I interacted with a damaged prothean beacon from Eden Prime. It showed me...images...of the protheans fate. I saw their destruction by the Reapers." Liara was flabbergasted, completely taken aback. She could scarcely believe it, and when Shepard mentioned the cipher that helped him understand the visions better, Liara was even more curious with knowing that another asari, Shiala from Feros, bestowed it upon him. Finally understanding why Saren and the geth wanted her dead, Liara realized that she too could help Shepard understand the visions better using her own mind-melding ability. Liara requested to perform the same action on Shepard. Shepard was beyond fed up with Saren, and was ready to hunt him down and catch him, once and for all. If this could help him along to that goal, he would do it, regardless of the risks. He agreed to let Liara interface with his mind. As they did, Liara came into contact with the exact same visions Shepard had held in his brain for weeks now. Once the mind-melding was complete, Liara almost fell over but steadied herself. Liara explained to Shepard that she now believed him. She also complimented him, describing his immense strength of will in order to bear that burden the way he did. Shepard was flattered, but he didn't consider it an accomplishment. He was a soldier, a soldier who had seen so many haunting sights and had to live with them. This was just another thing. Or so he thought. Unfortunately, Liara confessed to receiving nothing substantial from the visions themselves, it was all still foggy, and she herself was not well after the mind-melding. Shepard and Kaidan advised that she see Doctor Chakwas. Shepard asked if she was alright, and Liara explained that she would be, with some bedrest and proper nutrition. Shepard was relieved. He didn't want her to come to harm over something like this. "Go ahead and see the doctor, Liara." Shepard turned to the rest of his crew. "The rest of you are dismissed." As his team got up and began returning to their stations, Joker once again offered to patch Shepard through to the Council. He agreed once more to update them on the situation. Once Shepard had established comms with the Council, they questioned if he was taking the proper security precautions with Dr. T'soni. Shepard saw where this was going. "Liara isn't a security threat. She's on our side." The Council stated that they hoped he was right. The turian councilor then questioned Shepard's execution of the mission, asking if the destruction of the prothean ruins on Therum was truly necessary. It took a lot of effort for Shepard to not disconnect the call at such a question, but being a truthful man, he plainly stated that the ruins were overrun with Saren's forces. There was no other way. The salarian councilor agreed with his assessment. After the Council's approval of the mission, the call was ended. Shepard had now assisted the colonists on Feros and rescued Dr. T'soni from her perilous fate. What remained now, was to head to the corporation world of Noveria, and investigate an alleged geth presence there, and the second biggest fish of the mission, the Matriarch Benezia. ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard despised the thought that this monster escaped scot free. He knew he needed to help Garrus take him down. Such is what honor and justice would demand. Not only this, but Garrus was his friend. Shepard wanted to help him. Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard saw how well Wrex disguised his sentiments, but he could feel in the way Wrex discussed the armor that it held value to him, not monetary, but sentimental, the value of honor. Shepard knew that he wanted to help Wrex recover it. Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. Shepard could see in Tali a sweet and kind girl, but one possessed of immense mental strength. She was unafraid and determined to change her world, and to help carve a new path for her people. Something Shepard respected immensely. He cared about her as a friend, he wanted to see her succeed. Shepard knew that if recovering geth data was what would be best for her pilgrimage, he would do it. Shepard's first objective was to track down Dr. Heart for Garrus. The navdata that Garrus supplied to Shepard indicated that the infamous salarian "doctor" was located in the Herschel System of the Kepler Verge. Knowing this, Shepard ordered the Normandy to head to that system. Once they entered the Herschel System, they traveled at FTL speeds and performed frequent scans of system. Shepard was on alert, looking for any sign of the doctor's ship. Finally, the scanners located a human-style cargo ship orbiting a nearby planet. Shepard ordered the Normandy to dock with the freighter. As they docked, he read on the side of the freighter: MSV Fedele. When Shepard asked Garrus about the name, his turian friend informed him that the name checked out. As Garrus requested, Shepard decided to take Garrus along, ordering him to suit up and get ready to board. Anticipating trouble, Shepard also chose Wrex to accompany him - after all, a krogan would come in very handy if they ran into a tight spot. Once his boarding party was ready, Shepard and the team went aboard the Fedele. As they passed through the sterile, eerily quiet passageways of the ship, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex were all very alert. They heard thumping and soft groaning in the chamber ahead. Shepard opened the door seal and they entered carefully. Suddenly, they were set upon by creatures that were barely visible in the poorly lit chamber. They roared and groaned, and charged Shepard and his team. Shepard gave the order to open fire, and the creatures were cut down one at a time, until the chamber was empty. Looking down at one of the corpses, Shepard and his team examined it; a humanoid, stitched and cut, missing various parts of its body. "Looks like Dr. Saleon has been experimenting. Mn. It's gruesome." Garrus said, in a low voice. As Shepard looked upon the desecrated humanoid, he was beyond sickened. He had seen many things in his years, but a person, likely an innocent, butchered in such a way - Saleon was a monster, and had to be stopped. That would be justice. But his mind turned to his vengeance on Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver who killed his family. Was that justice? Maybe. But Goral begged and pleaded, even as Shepard took his life. He wasn't sure anymore. It felt good at the time but...that was not justice. That was hate. Shepard then realized - he couldn't take this person's life out of hate. Nor should Garrus. He would show mercy. Because that sets them above the monsters like Saleon, and Goral. Refocusing on the situation at hand, Shepard and his team moved on, and quite literally the next chamber down, the door opened, and Shepard came face to face with a decrepit old Salarian with a strange face, and doctor's clothes. He must have been hiding from the creatures in the previous room. The salarian spoke quickly as they entered the chamber, "Oh, thank you so much for saving me from those monsters!" Suddenly, Garrus spoke. "Commander, that's him. That's Dr. Saleon." The salarian retorted immediately, "What? No! My name is Heart! Dr. Heart!" Shepard furrowed his brow, narrowing his eyes at the salarian. He turned his head towards Garrus. "You're sure it's him?" Garrus nodded, his voice grim. "Positive." The turian looked to Saleon and snarled, "I'd harvest your organs first, Saleon, but we don't have the time." The salarian doctor spoke frantically, telling Shepard that Garrus was crazy, and pleading to the Commander to let him go. Shepard's eyes remained narrowed. He made his decision. This wouldn't go down like it did on Torfan. Shepard spoke calmly, "We'll take him in." Garrus turned rapidly, in disbelief, "But Commander, we have him!" Shepard turned to Garrus and looked him straight in the eyes. "I know. And we'll hand him over to the military." Garrus pushed back, "Shepard, we can't just let him live, after all he's done!" Shepard attempted to reassure Garrus. "Think, Garrus. If we end him here and now, we'll never figure out how he did it, or all the other crimes he's committed. We'll take him in. He'll do his time, and he'll be punished." Garrus tried to say more but seemed to concede. "I...you're right, Commander." Garrus turned to Saleon, giving him another death glare. "You're a VERY lucky salarian. You owe the Commander your life." The salarian doctor seemed to crack a wicked, scheming smirk. His voice slithered like a snake, "Ohh, thank you so much, Commander..." Just then, the salarian flinched, reaching behind and grabbing hold of his pistol, and, though clumsily, he took aim at Shepard quite quickly. Wrex bellowed out, "Gun!" Like a flash, Shepard drew his own pistol, faster than the blink of an eye. A bang and a smoking hole in the salarian's head was testament to the Commander's quick-drawing skill. The butcher, Dr. Saleon, fell to the floor like a tree. Garrus looked at the dead body of Saleon, and turned to Shepard. "...And he dies anyway. What was the point of that?" Shepard holstered his pistol, and turned to Garrus. "You can't always predict how people will act, Garrus. But what you can do is control how you behave in the situation. That's what counts." Garrus seemed to mull it over for a second, coming to an understanding, "Yeah...huh. You know, I don't think I've ever met someone like you before, Commander." Shepard smiled at Garrus. He was making an impression on his turian friend. Which was good. Garrus had the makings of an excellent soldier and leader, he just needed to calm his impulses. Shepard had to learn this the hard way; his cold-blooded slaying of Goral, how he was almost court-martialed. Anderson taught him much, and he hoped to impart some of that wisdom onto Garrus as well. With the job accomplished, Shepard and his team departed the butcher's ship and returned to the Normandy. ... (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard was rather embarrassed, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan grumbled loudly in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 0fdb99f0d45c7680e33860a5f5904050dccefcf1 173 172 2022-06-28T16:39:29Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Early Life in the Military */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous will and ability to survive. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew very close as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living in the darkest moments, his reason for pushing on. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent the entire night in silence, scarcely moving and and never raising his eyes from the dry blood-spattered dirt beneath him. He didn’t sleep, he didn’t eat. He couldn’t, for he barely felt alive. Over and over in his mind, the sights and sounds replayed in his mind. The screams of his parents. Watching them bleed and burn, and die. Echoed by the wails and screams of those around him, whose lives were destroyed. Why did they have to die? Why couldn’t he save them? These thoughts wracked his mind, as he could still see them die before his eyes. Victor tried to remember again, what he learned from his parents. He tried to shake off the horror, the pain. ‘I will endure. I will survive.” Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a reliable and determined soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!!" He bellowed, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all his fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "Y-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My-my ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped. Squelching punches continued, even after the batarian's screaming and wailing had ceased. Shepard's fists were covered in blood, and red spray landed upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Unfortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did irreparable damage to his face, giving him a long and nasty scar after the healing process had ended. This scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard felt lucky, though, that he managed to keep his presence on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was happy to explain, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as was his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher, which, she explained, was essentially the knowledge associated with being a prothean - culture, understanding, senses. Shiala described the Cipher's importance - it was necessary to make sense of the knowledge contained in the prothean beacon, and it also contained the knowledge of how to Saren planned to unleash the Reapers. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher, no matter the cost. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, advanced machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical needs to know about this." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to be patient." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. Kaidan then also reminded Shepard that they had another lead, the asari Dr. Liara T'soni, daughter of Benezia, who was somewhere in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Shepard agreed, and realizing that in order to go up against the Matriarch, her daughter could be useful indeed. He decided that this was their next target. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "We'll beat him at his own game. It's the only way to beat someone like him." Shepard said with certainty. And he meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do. Saren's good. But I'm better." Wrex retorted, "Good? He's rotten to the core." The grizzled krogan began to explain how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day; how he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but from Wrex's testimony, he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. "The ship is so quiet...how do you sleep at night?" She asked, with genuine curiosity. Shepard couldn't help but be amused at this, she clearly wasn't joking. It was actually pretty cute, Shepard thought. He discussed her issue with her, raising a brow inquisitively, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. Shepard nodded, understandingly. He knew the feeling. "You're homesick." Shepard said. Tali nodded ponderously. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where only foot travel would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad descended through the use of a few elevators, making their way down through the dig site, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew instantly - Dr. Liara T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Normandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. Liara went on to explain that even though little information remained on the protheans, even less remained on their predecessors. This was frustrating for her, making it nearly impossible for her and her scientific methods to determine what exactly happened to them. This was a striking moment for Shepard, when he realized that what he held in his brain, what was given to him by the prothean beacon on Eden Prime, was knowledge unknown to even leading scientists. He needed to share it. When Liara had finished explaining her understandings, Shepard proclaimed what he knew. "I think I can help you there, Dr. T'soni. I know what happened to the protheans. They didn't just disappear, they were wiped out, by a race of advanced machines called the Reapers." Liara's eyes widened, and she tilted her head inquisitively, "The...the Reapers? I've never heard of them. How do you know this?" Shepard responded, "I interacted with a damaged prothean beacon from Eden Prime. It showed me...images...of the protheans fate. I saw their destruction by the Reapers." Liara was flabbergasted, completely taken aback. She could scarcely believe it, and when Shepard mentioned the cipher that helped him understand the visions better, Liara was even more curious with knowing that another asari, Shiala from Feros, bestowed it upon him. Finally understanding why Saren and the geth wanted her dead, Liara realized that she too could help Shepard understand the visions better using her own mind-melding ability. Liara requested to perform the same action on Shepard. Shepard was beyond fed up with Saren, and was ready to hunt him down and catch him, once and for all. If this could help him along to that goal, he would do it, regardless of the risks. He agreed to let Liara interface with his mind. As they did, Liara came into contact with the exact same visions Shepard had held in his brain for weeks now. Once the mind-melding was complete, Liara almost fell over but steadied herself. Liara explained to Shepard that she now believed him. She also complimented him, describing his immense strength of will in order to bear that burden the way he did. Shepard was flattered, but he didn't consider it an accomplishment. He was a soldier, a soldier who had seen so many haunting sights and had to live with them. This was just another thing. Or so he thought. Unfortunately, Liara confessed to receiving nothing substantial from the visions themselves, it was all still foggy, and she herself was not well after the mind-melding. Shepard and Kaidan advised that she see Doctor Chakwas. Shepard asked if she was alright, and Liara explained that she would be, with some bedrest and proper nutrition. Shepard was relieved. He didn't want her to come to harm over something like this. "Go ahead and see the doctor, Liara." Shepard turned to the rest of his crew. "The rest of you are dismissed." As his team got up and began returning to their stations, Joker once again offered to patch Shepard through to the Council. He agreed once more to update them on the situation. Once Shepard had established comms with the Council, they questioned if he was taking the proper security precautions with Dr. T'soni. Shepard saw where this was going. "Liara isn't a security threat. She's on our side." The Council stated that they hoped he was right. The turian councilor then questioned Shepard's execution of the mission, asking if the destruction of the prothean ruins on Therum was truly necessary. It took a lot of effort for Shepard to not disconnect the call at such a question, but being a truthful man, he plainly stated that the ruins were overrun with Saren's forces. There was no other way. The salarian councilor agreed with his assessment. After the Council's approval of the mission, the call was ended. Shepard had now assisted the colonists on Feros and rescued Dr. T'soni from her perilous fate. What remained now, was to head to the corporation world of Noveria, and investigate an alleged geth presence there, and the second biggest fish of the mission, the Matriarch Benezia. ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard despised the thought that this monster escaped scot free. He knew he needed to help Garrus take him down. Such is what honor and justice would demand. Not only this, but Garrus was his friend. Shepard wanted to help him. Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard saw how well Wrex disguised his sentiments, but he could feel in the way Wrex discussed the armor that it held value to him, not monetary, but sentimental, the value of honor. Shepard knew that he wanted to help Wrex recover it. Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. Shepard could see in Tali a sweet and kind girl, but one possessed of immense mental strength. She was unafraid and determined to change her world, and to help carve a new path for her people. Something Shepard respected immensely. He cared about her as a friend, he wanted to see her succeed. Shepard knew that if recovering geth data was what would be best for her pilgrimage, he would do it. Shepard's first objective was to track down Dr. Heart for Garrus. The navdata that Garrus supplied to Shepard indicated that the infamous salarian "doctor" was located in the Herschel System of the Kepler Verge. Knowing this, Shepard ordered the Normandy to head to that system. Once they entered the Herschel System, they traveled at FTL speeds and performed frequent scans of system. Shepard was on alert, looking for any sign of the doctor's ship. Finally, the scanners located a human-style cargo ship orbiting a nearby planet. Shepard ordered the Normandy to dock with the freighter. As they docked, he read on the side of the freighter: MSV Fedele. When Shepard asked Garrus about the name, his turian friend informed him that the name checked out. As Garrus requested, Shepard decided to take Garrus along, ordering him to suit up and get ready to board. Anticipating trouble, Shepard also chose Wrex to accompany him - after all, a krogan would come in very handy if they ran into a tight spot. Once his boarding party was ready, Shepard and the team went aboard the Fedele. As they passed through the sterile, eerily quiet passageways of the ship, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex were all very alert. They heard thumping and soft groaning in the chamber ahead. Shepard opened the door seal and they entered carefully. Suddenly, they were set upon by creatures that were barely visible in the poorly lit chamber. They roared and groaned, and charged Shepard and his team. Shepard gave the order to open fire, and the creatures were cut down one at a time, until the chamber was empty. Looking down at one of the corpses, Shepard and his team examined it; a humanoid, stitched and cut, missing various parts of its body. "Looks like Dr. Saleon has been experimenting. Mn. It's gruesome." Garrus said, in a low voice. As Shepard looked upon the desecrated humanoid, he was beyond sickened. He had seen many things in his years, but a person, likely an innocent, butchered in such a way - Saleon was a monster, and had to be stopped. That would be justice. But his mind turned to his vengeance on Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver who killed his family. Was that justice? Maybe. But Goral begged and pleaded, even as Shepard took his life. He wasn't sure anymore. It felt good at the time but...that was not justice. That was hate. Shepard then realized - he couldn't take this person's life out of hate. Nor should Garrus. He would show mercy. Because that sets them above the monsters like Saleon, and Goral. Refocusing on the situation at hand, Shepard and his team moved on, and quite literally the next chamber down, the door opened, and Shepard came face to face with a decrepit old Salarian with a strange face, and doctor's clothes. He must have been hiding from the creatures in the previous room. The salarian spoke quickly as they entered the chamber, "Oh, thank you so much for saving me from those monsters!" Suddenly, Garrus spoke. "Commander, that's him. That's Dr. Saleon." The salarian retorted immediately, "What? No! My name is Heart! Dr. Heart!" Shepard furrowed his brow, narrowing his eyes at the salarian. He turned his head towards Garrus. "You're sure it's him?" Garrus nodded, his voice grim. "Positive." The turian looked to Saleon and snarled, "I'd harvest your organs first, Saleon, but we don't have the time." The salarian doctor spoke frantically, telling Shepard that Garrus was crazy, and pleading to the Commander to let him go. Shepard's eyes remained narrowed. He made his decision. This wouldn't go down like it did on Torfan. Shepard spoke calmly, "We'll take him in." Garrus turned rapidly, in disbelief, "But Commander, we have him!" Shepard turned to Garrus and looked him straight in the eyes. "I know. And we'll hand him over to the military." Garrus pushed back, "Shepard, we can't just let him live, after all he's done!" Shepard attempted to reassure Garrus. "Think, Garrus. If we end him here and now, we'll never figure out how he did it, or all the other crimes he's committed. We'll take him in. He'll do his time, and he'll be punished." Garrus tried to say more but seemed to concede. "I...you're right, Commander." Garrus turned to Saleon, giving him another death glare. "You're a VERY lucky salarian. You owe the Commander your life." The salarian doctor seemed to crack a wicked, scheming smirk. His voice slithered like a snake, "Ohh, thank you so much, Commander..." Just then, the salarian flinched, reaching behind and grabbing hold of his pistol, and, though clumsily, he took aim at Shepard quite quickly. Wrex bellowed out, "Gun!" Like a flash, Shepard drew his own pistol, faster than the blink of an eye. A bang and a smoking hole in the salarian's head was testament to the Commander's quick-drawing skill. The butcher, Dr. Saleon, fell to the floor like a tree. Garrus looked at the dead body of Saleon, and turned to Shepard. "...And he dies anyway. What was the point of that?" Shepard holstered his pistol, and turned to Garrus. "You can't always predict how people will act, Garrus. But what you can do is control how you behave in the situation. That's what counts." Garrus seemed to mull it over for a second, coming to an understanding, "Yeah...huh. You know, I don't think I've ever met someone like you before, Commander." Shepard smiled at Garrus. He was making an impression on his turian friend. Which was good. Garrus had the makings of an excellent soldier and leader, he just needed to calm his impulses. Shepard had to learn this the hard way; his cold-blooded slaying of Goral, how he was almost court-martialed. Anderson taught him much, and he hoped to impart some of that wisdom onto Garrus as well. With the job accomplished, Shepard and his team departed the butcher's ship and returned to the Normandy. ... (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard was rather embarrassed, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan grumbled loudly in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 21f040cd0a95cb8822dc9e16be635e2df9beaa03 174 173 2022-06-28T17:24:27Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Shepard on the Citadel */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:Mass Effect Shepard.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard, the Wolf of the Alliance, and Captain of the SSV Normandy.]] [[File:Vs logo 2.png|thumb|Commander Victor Shepard's personal insignia, this was seen worn at all times worn over his heart.]] '''Commander Victor Shepard''', the '''Hero of the Citadel''', the '''Destroyer of the Reapers''', the '''Incarnate of Victory''', and the '''Wolf of the Alliance''', was a human military officer of the Earth Systems Alliance, the Captain of the [[SSV Normandy]], and the First Human Spectre. Commander Shepard was a living legend of the Alliance, known initially as an influential military leader, and then eventually a hero to the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Shepard first came into the galactic scene as a nobody, a scarred man with a haunted past but a tremendous will and ability to survive. As his military career proceeded, his character was chiseled to form due to event after event that earned him a reputation as a dependable, iron-willed and heroic soldier - an excellent friend to those he cared about and those under his command, and a ruthless, deadly foe to those who stood against him. Commander Victor Shepard is unquestionably the most decorated and renowned soldier in galactic history. Towards the beginning of his career, it was he that, along with his closest friends [[Garrus Vakarian]], [[Tali'Zorah|Tali'Zorah nar Rayya]], [[Urdnot Wrex]], and [[Liara T'soni|Liara T'soni]], stood against the rogue Spectre Saren, his army of Geth, and the Reaper known as Sovereign. Two years later, he and his old friends, along with new ones, stood against the dreaded Collectors and destroyed their base. Then shortly afterwards, Shepard and his allies united the entire galaxy against the threat of the mighty Reapers, and though the war extracted a heavy toll, the Reapers were defeated, and Shepard was victorious. During the fight against the Collectors, Victor Shepard and Tali'Zorah, the Normandy's quarian senior engineer, grew very close as not just friends, but as lovers. Over the time they spent together, their relationship grew into a deeply passionate and committed love, and it is not unfair to say that Tali may well have become Shepard's reason for living in the darkest moments, his reason for pushing on. After the Reapers were destroyed, Shepard was thought dead by the vast majority of the galaxy, having laid down his life destroying the marauding machines. By some miracle Shepard survived, and spent a few years recovering in secret in a military hospital in London on Earth. When the Mass Relays were repaired from the damage they suffered during the war, Shepard managed to reunite with Tali on Rannoch, and the two of them built a home for themselves and started up a farm. Shepard and Tali also adopted two children, a human and a quarian. The two were wedded officially and together live quietly on Rannoch. To most of the galaxy however, Commander Victor Shepard died that fateful day on Earth when the Reapers were destroyed. He is known now as a galactic hero, and is held in high renown on all council worlds as the savior of the Milky Way. == History == === Shepard's Origins === ==== Early Life ==== Victor Shepard was born on April 11th, 2151, on the planet Mindoir, a garden world in the Attican Traverse settled by humans as a farming colony. Victor was an only child born to George Shepard and Anne Shepard. They were a family of farmers, the Shepard farm being successful, producing grain, wheat, vegetables and animal products for the Alliance. Victor was raised up by his family with a lot of love and support. Though he was close to both his mother and father, Victor in particular spent much time with his father, whom he looked up to and received tutelage on the art of farming, and how to be a good man. His father imparted young Victor with valuable virtues; honor, respect, duty, love for friend and family, and also fearlessness in the face of adversity, as well as determination. Victor's character showed in his care for the farm, the crops and the animals, and in his quickness of action, never hesitating to solve a problem or to defend the farm from wild predators. Victor loved his family, but did not have that many friends. Aside from the distance between his parents' farm and other farms, making it difficult to socialize consistently, Victor was a more quiet, introverted person. More than talking, Victor allowed his actions to speak for him. Speaking was not necessary for him, because if he had nothing important to say he'd just not say anything. Though his mother loved him very much, she saw such great potential in her son; she knew him as intelligent, strong, funny when he wanted to be, and a natural leader. His mother feared that he would let his gifts go to waste if he simply remained a quiet farmer. Life on the farm was busy, but Victor was content with the work, and his family's company. Most of his days were spent tending to the crops, the animals, and assisting his mother and father with chores. When the daily tasks were done, Victor and his family would spend the last few hours of the afternoon/evening gathered together, playing music - some songs handed down from older human generations, others newer. Victor learned from his mother and father about playing the six-string guitar, an antiquated instrument for 22nd century humanity, but one that Victor loved, with its dulcet, satisfying tones that he took to with great passion. He also learned how to sing from his parents, who were both good singers. When not spending time with his family, Victor would daydream and draw up fantasies in his head about adventure. Though Victor would often get lost in his daydreams and picture himself on grand journeys to the stars beyond, Victor doubted himself, and his own ability to succeed at anything except farming. The farm was all he knew. Besides, he thought, he enjoyed farming well enough. It was busy work, tough but rewarding, and he was doing something worthwhile. Both his parents were happy that he seemed to be committing to farming, but they both knew he was capable of much, much more. ==== The Raid on Mindoir ==== Victor's life was completely changed in the year 2170, when reports of hostile raiders entering Mindoir's atmosphere broke across many radios on the planet. Victor's father, George responded to these warnings by preparing his family to evacuate the farm to a designated shelter. George expressed anger at the fact that the Alliance provided little military aid or support to Mindoir. Victor and his family had gathered their things quickly and were preparing to leave, but it did not matter, they were too late. The raiders had arrived in force, and ships began landing on the Shepard family's property. The raiders were in fact, batarian slavers. The Shepard family had no means to defend themselves other than a single old hunting rifle that George and Victor used to shoot predators. They had no farm hands that could have assisted, they were alone against a raiding party of batarian troopers. George quickly grabbed the hunting rifle and whispered to Anne and Victor that they needed to run. George volunteered himself to be a distraction for them to flee. Anne protested, but George explained that if he didn't do this, they all would die. Victor too opposed the idea of his father going alone. Victor begged his father to allow him to go as well, and fight the invaders. George likewise silenced Victor, and ordered him to look after his mother. After a loving goodbye to his family, George leaped out from the farmhouse and fired a round into one of the batarian raiders. The shot was well-placed - the round flying just below the batarian's helmet and into his neck, killing him via exsanguination. However, immediately after firing this round, the leader of the batarians fired a mass accelerated slug into George's arm, disabling him and causing him to drop the weapon. Within moments the raiders were upon him and tied and bound George. Though Anne and Victor managed to slip out the back of the farmhouse undetected and almost made it into the safety of the fields, they were caught by unlucky happenstance when a batarian raider was inspecting the barn. The raider fired a projectile net at the mother and young man, binding them as well. The batarians rounded up all three of the Shepard family; George, Anne and Victor. The marauding aliens laughed and joked about how easy the raid was, and what they should do with all of them. One aggressive batarian clamored that they should cut all their throats and leave them to bleed out on the dirt. A cunning batarian proposed to execute the males and take the woman onto their own ship. It was then that the leader of the raiders silenced them all, and introduced himself to the Shepards. His name was Dhar'sok Goral, a batarian who clearly led his raiders through strength and fear. He was an imposing figure with a scarred face and tattoos. Dhar'sok made it clear that the only reason he introduced himself at all, was so they could know who sent them to the afterlife. He cracked a wicked grin, and ordered the execution of both George and Anne, but to leave the boy Victor alive, for they could use him. What happened next was harrowing, an event that scarred Shepard for life. Tied and bound, helpless, young Victor was forced to watch as his mother and father were brutalized by the sadistic batarian raiders, who cursed humankind and spat upon them. Both George and Anne were beaten with fists, before being stabbed again and again by batarian blades, their anguished screams filling the once tranquil farmland air. Victor attempted to break free from his binds multiple times to try and save his family, but two batarians held him fast and beat him bloody into the dirt each time he attempted. Then, Victor was again forced to watch as his bleeding parents were hoisted onto wooden posts and nailed hand and foot into them, doused with oil, and set alight as they yet lived. His mother and father burned alive, in too much pain to even say goodbye to their son. Victor, crying and furious resisted again and again only to be beaten brutally into reluctant submission. Finally, as the bloodcurdling screams of his mother and father ceased, the batarian leader, Dhar'sok, approached Victor, grinning maliciously. "Oh, look at the tough little farm boy. Go on, human filth. Cry. Cry for your weakness." Victor faced his enemy with fury in his eyes only for Dhar'sok to grin amused, the batarian laying a final brutal punch directly to Victor's face, sending blood splattering onto the farm soil, rendering the young man unconscious. The batarians took Victor into their custody, as they set the farm aflame, even the barn full of animals. Nothing was spared. Such was the fate of the Shepard farm and the family that called it home for years. ==== Rescue by the Alliance ==== Victor Shepard came out of consciousness several hours after the attack on his family's farm. He had been hauled off, the sole survivor of his farm, in chains as a slave to a large batarian camp, a staging area that had been established for all the batarian raiders that landed on Mindoir. Dhar'sok Goral was the leader of all the raiders, in charge of the entire camp. It was he that oversaw the atrocities committed against the peaceful human farmers. The staging area was constructed from the remains of a large market that was still being pillaged and raided. Shepard was placed in a grouping of dozens of subdued humans, still bloody from his brutal beating. As he sat bound in the camp, Shepard watched as a furious and distraught man screamed in despair as his wife was brutalized and taken advantage of by the batarians. The raiders laughed and hollered sadistically as they tossed her from man to man, the husband screaming for them to stop. As the wife fought back, the batarians grew angry and beat her down as well, dragging her away screaming. The husband bawled in sorrow, and Victor's heart shattered for a second time, as he watched yet another family torn asunder by the barbaric raiders. His ears were filled with the screams of the tormented and the cries of the hopeless. Shepard recalled back to the lessons of his father. He strengthened his resolve. He would overcome this horror. He would survive. Shepard spent the entire night in silence, scarcely moving and and never raising his eyes from the dry blood-spattered dirt beneath him. He didn’t sleep, he didn’t eat. He couldn’t, for he barely felt alive. Over and over in his mind, the sights and sounds replayed in his mind. The screams of his parents. Watching them bleed and burn, and die. Echoed by the wails and screams of those around him, whose lives were destroyed. Why did they have to die? Why couldn’t he save them? These thoughts wracked his mind, as he could still see them die before his eyes. Victor tried to remember again, what he learned from his parents. He tried to shake off the horror, the pain. ‘I will endure. I will survive.” Hours turned to days, days turned to even more days, Shepard lost track of time in the camp. Surviving off of drops of water and stale, hard rations. Barely enough to keep them alive, just enough to ensure they wouldn't die. Still, many did. Shepard looked upon many of the more frail, the more weak who couldn't handle it and had perished. While Dhar'sok ate succulent meats from the hogs and livestock slaughtered by the raiders. Shepard's heart shifted from shock and horror to hate. He craved their deaths. And more so, he so wished for the chance to claim Dhar'sok's life with his own hands. This continued on for some time, until rumors began circulating among the batarians of Alliance presence on the planet. As the batarian camp grew and became more fortified, more slaves were piled into the camp and more batarian raiders arrived to protect it. Just as Shepard overheard Dhar'sok's plan to make off with their spoils, Alliance gunships roared into the raider camp's airspace, dropping marines and opening fire on the defending batarians. The result was bloody, many soldiers dying on each side. At Dhar'sok's command, the batarians began bringing out heavy gatlings to destroy the attacking humans. This plan succeeding, forcing the Alliance into retreat - not just because of the heavy firepower possessed by the batarians, but also because of the complication of civilians in the danger zone. Hearing the gunships arrive, Shepard was overcome with excitement, but watching the Alliance be forced into a retreat dashed his hopes once again. Dhar'sok was furious, and ordered the loading of many slaves onto the raiders' ships. Dhar'sok came to Shepard, and grinned maliciously at him. "Don't worry, pup. You'll be among the first to leave with me." Young Shepard looked upon the murderer of his family with hatred. Dhar'sok responded, "I like your spirit...I'll have fun breaking you." As night came, the batarians' plan was being put into motion. They began loading groups of slaves onto their dropships in an attempt to make off with whatever they could before the Alliance could come back. However, they could never have predicted what happened next. As Shepard was being loaded onto the ship, the batarian handling him was shot through the chest by a silenced round. Chaos and disarray erupted among the batarians, as more and more raiders were dropped with precise, deadly silent shots. Then, Shepard saw them. N7 soldiers clad in black had infiltrated the camp, and were making short work of the confused disorganized raiders. Shepard watched the beauty as lethality and precision triumphed over brutality and sadism, the lesson becoming more and more fruitful with each dropped body, each dead raider. Dhar'sok Goral panicked as his raiders fell, and scampered to his personal shuttle, leaving almost all under his command to die. Within two minutes of the attack, the camp was cleared of batarians. The N7 had cleared the camp, and allowed the Alliance marines entrance to the camp. The captured farmers and civilians were then freed by the human forces. And as the sun broke across the horizon, Shepard looked upon it with renewed hope. His binds were cut by an N7 soldier, and as their eyes met, he saw bravery in his eyes. The soldier nodded wordlessly at young Shepard, and moved on to assist other fellow prisoners. Shepard was struck with a moment of inspiration. From that moment on, he knew that he couldn't live quietly and allow for more innocent people and families to be harmed by the cruel, the ones who create strife. He needed to be the one to make a difference, to save them all, or die trying. He needed to join the Alliance, he needed to be N7. ==== Early Life in the Military ==== The year was 2172. Mindoir had long been liberated from the batarian raiders that pillaged many parts of the planet two years earlier. Shepard had remained on Mindoir, mourning his family. He was having a very hard time coming to grips with what happened. He fell into an emotional pit that seemed impossible to climb out of. He was sad for the deaths of his family, and in many ways, he still blamed himself for the tragedy, for his inability to save them. Shepard realized there was only one way to move on, he had to try and bury these thoughts. For the two years since the attack on the colony, Shepard decided to lay his family to rest, physically, as well as in his mind. Shortly after the colony was liberated, Shepard returned to the farm and took his family down from the posts where they died. He buried them quietly, and then he spent a long time disassembling his family's farmhouse and barn piece by piece, and leaving the pieces on the earth where they were once erected upon. He vowed to leave it all behind, as a way of sealing his path forward in life. He would not be a slave to grief, nor would he allow himself to become a victim. Saying his final goodbyes to his family and his home, he left for the recently established Alliance base on Mindoir, and enlisted into the military at age 21. Shepard enlisted in the Alliance Navy Military, where he was trained as a grunt in the Marines. Immediately after entering the military, Shepard had begun making a name for himself. He had a fire in his belly and in his heart, a burning desire to help people, but without ever compromising his ability to get the job done. Shepard remembered Mindoir, all the suffering he witnessed, all the good people and innocents whose lives were extinguished for no reason. He committed to never letting what he experienced on his homeworld ever happen again on his watch. Shepard earned a reputation as a reliable and determined soldier, and one who, no matter what, could get the job done. Shepard worked well in a squad, and equally so all alone. He never failed to assist or be a leader for his fellow soldiers when they were in need, but he remained with few friends - he found it hard to form strong, close relationships with people, even his brothers and sisters in arms. This earned him the nickname "Lone Wolf" among his comrades. Shepard was regarded for his unparalleled skill with firearms. Upon entering service in fact, he was identified as one of the best shots in the entire Alliance. As he was receiving his training, his commanding officer realized that Shepard's talents would be wasted as a grunt. The sergeant gave Shepard a personal recommendation to enter the Interplanetary Combatives Academy, where he could receive special forces training. Shepard was greatly honored, and accepted. Shepard went to Earth to begin his training at the ICA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Immediately upon arriving on Earth, Shepard was completely blown away by what he saw. Humanity's homeworld, the place he only saw on the extranet, heard of in broadcasts, or read about in books. It was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and he instantly felt the primal, instinctive connection to Earth that any human should. He felt at home, probably more so than he even did on Mindoir. Shepard had to concentrate though, he was here for a reason. Special forces training was famed for its rigorous testing of a soldier's mettle, physically and mentally. Most who apply for this training never make it, they break before even making it out of N1. For Shepard however, this training fit him like a glove. Shepard's training in N1 saw him awake and alert for 20 hours a day, leading soldiers into combat areas with unforgiving terrain, with little food and water. And every hour Shepard spent in these conditions, he was taken back to the batarian camp, and surviving. He remembered the words. I will survive. I will overcome. Shepard's bravery and refusal to back down from any challenge was inspiring to the men and women under his command. Shepard graduated with the highest commendations from N1, and came back to the Academy again for further training. His training continued as he took on the training courses N2 through N6. Shepard's already potent combat skills were honed to a deadly, cutting edge. Shepard was trained in ferocious hand to hand drills, live-fire training and obstacle courses, that prepared him for all situations in combat. He was also trained in zero G environments in order to be able to fight even in the worst place, in the vacuum of space. Finally, Shepard came to the final stage of his training, the test which would finally decide if he was N7. Shepard and other N6s who qualified for the final test were dropped off on an isolated asteroid with basic gear, a single supply of oxygen, and no nav assistance. Their only objective was to survive. Many of the trainees ended up running out of oxygen early on as panic took them. Those who kept their nerves lasted longer, but their oxygen ran out faster as they failed to ration properly. Shepard however, had his most dire survival instincts kick in for this test. He found cover, bunkered down, and took shallow, slow breaths. He remained still, and his thoughts went to his farm, before the raid. The peace, quiet, the sounds of birds and the gentle wind. Finally however, after 48 hours, Shepard's oxygen ran out. He could feel his consciousness slip away, but he held himself together as long as he could, refused to slip under, he had to stay awake. It was just then, as he felt he had failed, that the dropship arrived, marines jumping out before providing him with oxygen and taking him onto the shuttle, on the way to the debriefing. Not long later, Shepard received the news. He had graduated the Interplanetary Combatives Program as a full-fledged N7. Shepard was beyond honored, and wore the white and red N7 symbol upon his chest proudly. It was then that he was allowed his own insignia. He was advised to make it something close to his heart, for that is where he would wear it. Something that symbolizes him such that his very essence would be contained in a mere glimpse of the insignia. Shepard reflected on this, and as his mind developed his vision, he remembered the nickname that the grunts had for him in boot camp - "The Lone Wolf". Shepard thought about the wolf. The wolf represented for humanity guardianship, loyalty, and the trusting of ones instincts - traits Shepard admired and sought to emulate. The wolf also symbolized the ability to lead and walk in a pack, but also the strength to stand alone when necessary and survive. That was it, and Shepard decided on his insignia. An eagle's wing signifying the Naval Marines, and a wolf's face superimposed upon it. This insignia forever symbolized Victor Shepard for the rest of his career. ==== Akuze ==== Shepard rose through the ranks of the Alliance military with surprising speed and unparalleled momentum. Within 5 years of enlisting, Shepard had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Marines, aged 26 years. Shepard's service record was impressive, a bonafide N7 soldier, and one of the hardest, most efficient and naturally talented leaders in the service. However, the Alliance brass felt that Shepard still needed more experience under his belt to prove himself worthy of promotion. When the Alliance colony on Akuze went mysteriously silent in 2177, Shepard was placed at the head of the operation, to lead a unit of marines planetside to investigate. When the mission was authorized, Shepard was on board an Alliance frigate that entered Akuze's orbit. Several dropships were dispatched containing the Marine unit, with Shepard at their head. As they landed on the planet's surface as close as the dropships could to the site of the colony, the marines disembarked and covered the remaining distance on ground. Shepard coordinated their movements and ordered them to fan out as they reached the remains of the colony. To the shock and horror of many of the marines, they saw the colonists - dead. Many had been ripped to shreds, limbs tossed about here and there, and still more were little more than pools of blood on the soil of the colony. Shepard remained steadfast and focused, ordering his Marines to follow the blood, find what killed them. All was silent as the marines passed through the ghost colony's rugged streets, weapons raised, examining every shadow. Shepard and his soldiers slowly made their way to the east end of the colony, as it seemed most blood trails lead there. They reached the end of the trail. The blood spatters seemed to end, and seep into loose swathes of dirt. Without any warning, the ground erupted beneath a score of around ten marines, dirt and bodies flying into the air, accompanied by a deafening screech. Immediately Shepard gave the order for his unit of soldiers to get into a tight defensive formation. Training their guns on the explosion, the dust cleared to reveal the squad of marines, or what was left of them. Many were gone, some were torn to pieces and screaming horrifically, in pain. Some missing their limbs. Shepard was shaken, but refocused. He called for the unit to move away from the loose soil, and prepare to fire. Suddenly, the ground burst once more, just feet away from Shepard. Another grouping of marines were slaughtered to the sound of horrific screams. This time though, the nemesis revealed itself, a horrific worm-like creature massive in size, with scythes for face pincers and claws like enormous hooks. "What the fuck is that thing?!" One of the marines screamed out. "Focus, damnit! Marines, open fire now!" Shepard hollered the command, all surviving marines opening fire on the creature. Hurt, the massive worm dived back under the ground as the surviving marines attempted to keep composure. "Regroup!" Shepard ordered, and rumblings could be felt beneath the ground. "Steady, men!" The Lt Commander cautioned. The rumbling stopped. Shepard bellowed out, "Second squad, move it!" With that the second squad of marines in the unit broke formation and dived away, just in time to avoid the worm-beast's bursting from the ground. "Fire all!" Shepard commanded, as the marines opened fire once again and riddled the beast with mass accelerated rounds. The creature shrieked in pain and fell onto the soil, bleeding, before slinking back beneath the ground, dead. The marines cheered and chanted "hoo-yah!" As Shepard examined the swath of soil where the creature fell. Shepard could see the dirt rumble and shake slightly. The Lt Commander peered at his soldiers. Only he saw it. His eyes widened and his mouth opened into a roar, "Everyone, get to cover-!" Before his sentence even finished the ground exploded once again and ripped through the unit of marines, even more being slaughtered in the blink of an eye. "Damnit!" Shepard yelled, regrouping his men, "Marines, if you're alive get to me, follow me!" Shepard broke into a sprint back to the colony, and only a handful of soldiers were able to follow him. Falling back near the colony's buildings, Shepard raised his Avenger rifle and fired back at the pursuing worm-beast, its spiky carapace cutting through the dirt as it followed them. The creature did not flee, it dived out of the soil and ripped through several more of the retreating marines, leaving blood and torn flesh. Shepard was forced to watch as his soldiers were helplessly ripped apart, and there was nothing he could do to save them. The last of the marines didn't even make it back to the cover of the colony. They were dragged screaming beneath the earth or sliced to pieces there as they ran. Shepard's survival instincts kicked in, as he climbed atop one of the abandoned colonists' homes in order to temporarily escape the worm-beasts. The creatures' attack did not cease, one of the worm-beasts burst from the ground once more and lurched its head at Shepard atop the abandoned home, releasing a deafening, horrid screech as it opened its vicious mandibles to devour the sole survivor. Shepard roared in as much anger as fear, firing his Avenger rifle with reckless abandon into the worm-beast's face, causing it to recoil and shriek in pain. Shepard did not relent, firing until the creature's already hideous face was made uglier, and finally the creature gave up its attack and dived beneath the earth again. Panting hard, Shepard seized the moment of peace to assess his situation. Shepard took one last look at his men. What originally started as a unit of 50 marines, now was just scattered body parts and blood, those who were not taken underground anyway. Shepard looked away. He couldn't save them. He failed them. Still...there was nothing he could do now. Nothing, except survive. And avenge them. While atop the rooftop, Shepard used his omni-tool to send a distress call. "Mission control. We have a situation. The unit was...wiped out. We - I...need evac." Shepard uttered breathlessly into the tool. The comms buzzed as control responded, "Wiped out? Damnit. Copy, Shepard. We'll send a bird as soon as we can, but you'll need to wait until dawn." Shepard growled back, "Dawn? What the hell for?" Control responded, "Atmospheric conditions have changed, Lieutenant Commander. We won't be able to get a bird to the LZ safely." Shepard, though furious, kept his composure and responded, "Copy. Shepard over and out." Even after night fell upon the colony, Shepard maintained his vigil, not allowing himself to even nod off once. He couldn't. His survival depended on his absolute awareness. It was hours before the huge worm beasts had finished their meals of marines. Finally, Shepard saw the carapace of one of the worm-beasts slowly slinking through the dirt, on the hunt once again. Shepard raised his rifle and peered into the scope to view the tunneling abomination. As he did so, he caught sight of a M-560 Hydra rocket launcher laying on the graveyard of marines. One of the ordinance guys must have dropped it, Shepard thought to himself. If he could get a hold of that, he'd have a chance against those damn things. Shepard climbed down the abandoned home and raced for the rocket launcher, sprinting across the dirt before hastily grabbing it. Immediately, one of the worm-beasts burst out from the ground and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Before he could even react, the enormous worm creature struck out with its hook-like claw and stabbed into Shepard's leg. He let out a scream of incredible pain, but managed to refocus quickly. Shepard primed the rocket launcher and took aim at the creature. As the monstrosity leapt for the kill, Shepard fired, a rocket screaming out of the weapon and bursting into the creature's head, exploding and sending chunks of carapace and flesh everywhere. Shepard turned and limped back up to abandoned home. Channeling all his strength and willpower, Shepard hoisted himself back onto the roof of the home and took aim once again, as another massive worm-beast - the previously wounded one - hearing the commotion, sprung from the dirt and launched a glob of acidic excrement at him. Shepard had to fall over in order to evade the projectile, and fired another rocket which blasted the creature's prothorax apart. The sun began slowly creeping over the horizon, as Shepard faced the enormous worm-beast, almost blown apart, attempting to crawl its way closer to him. Shepard took aim once again with the rocket launcher, this time for the creature's head. "This is for my men, you piece of shit." He growled before firing his last rocket, blasting apart the creature's head in a burst of fire and worm blood. Minutes later, Shepard's omni tool crackled as Control's transmission came in. "Shepard, bird inbound ready for dustoff." Shepard responded back into the omni tool, "Acknowledged, Control. And...we're going to need many caskets. These marines deserve heroes' burials." Control was silent for a moment before replying. "...Copy that, Lieutenant Commander." Shepard was extracted from Akuze, and several more Alliance marine units were dispatched to Akuze to clean up the remaining beasts, now identified as thresher maws. Shepard's wounds were treated, and he was recognized for his actions on Akuze. Shepard received several medals in a grand ceremony and was promoted to the rank of Commander, but Shepard felt no victory from Akuze. For all he saw was the limbless, bleeding bodies of his men as they attempted to crawl to him, begging for his help. Hearing them scream as they were dragged down to be ripped apart and eaten. These sights, these sounds haunted his dreams for a long long time after, and though his actions in destroying two thresher maws and effectively saving what remained of the colony earned him high praise, Shepard never felt true pride in what happened that day, and losing all under his command made him hesitant to take on that responsibility again. ==== Tracking Down Dhar'sok Goral ==== The year was 2178, just one year after Shepard's mission on Akuze went horribly wrong. The Alliance was stricken by strife in the aftermath of the infamous Skyllian Blitz, a large assault on the human world of Elysium by batarian warlords and slavers. Finally, two years after the Blitz, the Alliance leadership had begun planning a retaliatory attack on the mostly batarian moon of Torfan, which served as a staging area for many of the warlords and raiding parties that attacked Elysium. When word of the operation began circulating around Alliance Special Ops, Shepard took advantage of his N7 status to look over the documents associated with the mission brief. Looking over the names of the warlords that the Alliance was targetting, Shepard saw a name that made his blood boil: Dhar'sok Goral - the very slaver-warlord that was responsible for much of the atrocities on his homeworld of Mindoir...the batarian that killed his family. Without any hesitation, Shepard volunteered to be part of the strike team on Torfan. However, several Alliance admirals gave him the order to not go to Torfan, as Shepard was seen as something of a hero following Akuze, and to have him associated with what was likely going to be a controversial attack would be bad for the Alliance's image. Shepard paid this order no mind and snuck his way aboard a shuttle anyway, hiding his face with his N7 helmet. The Alliance had planned a lightning war on Torfan. Arriving at FTL speeds, the human cruiser entered Torfan's orbit and dispatched several units of marines and a handful of N7 squads, among them was Shepard. The naval battle was nonexistant, the Alliance's lightning war gambit paying off. They took the batarians completely by surprise. Orbital defenses were annihilated quickly by the N7 gunships, and AA guns were quickly neutralized by the marines shortly after drop. The gunships carrying Shepard screamed with speed to the dropzone, the N7 soldiers leaping out of the shuttle hurriedly as they spread out to the various bunkers dotting the moon's landscape. Shepard went off on his own to reduce his chances of being recognized, and began his own hunt. Shepard infiltrated one of the bunkers not hit by marines or other N7. Bursting down the door, Shepard was met with several armed batarian raiders who were preparing to leave. A firefight ensued, with Shepard gunning down the raiders swiftly, leaving one of them alive. However, Shepard only did this to fire a round into the batarian's leg, injuring him as the raider screamed in agony. Shepard approached the wounded batarian and grabbed him by the collar of his armor, aiming his pistol at the raider's head. "Where's Dhar'sok Goral?" Shepard inquired with a growl. "I don't know what you're -ngh- talking about!" The batarian yelled. Shepard removed the gun from the batarian's head and fired a slug just inches from his face, making him scream in fear and likely pain from the sound of the weapon. "You know damn well, pirate trash. Where is Dhar'sok Goral?!" Shepard roared, and finally the batarian caved. "Alright alright! Last I heard he was in the southwest-most bunker, holding out. Don't think he'd stay there though. I don't know alright! They don't tell me anything!" Shepard grunted and threw the batarian down, leaving him with his life. "Consider yourself lucky." With that, the Commander left the bunker. Shepard dashed with all his speed and swiftness to the southwest, gunning down batarian raiders as he went. Finally, Shepard came to the bunker the pirate was talking about. The last miniature stronghold in the complex, with its own airstrip. And it just so happened that a batarian dropship was preparing to depart with engines roaring just as Shepard arrived. Then, the Commander saw him - a heavily armored batarian running out of the bunker and onto the airstrip towards the gunship with a handful of guards. Shepard knew it immediately. His gait, his physique, all unmistakable. Victor called out, "DHAR'SOK!" With that, the central batarian stopped cold in his tracks and turned towards the voice. Indeed, it was him. Older now, with a greying beard, but it was him. Dhar'sok squinted his four eyes at the human in heavy onyx armor. "Who in the hell-" the batarian warlord started, as Shepard approached him closer and closer. Shepard responded in kind, fiercely. "Don't recognize me, Goral? I get that you're old now..but not old enough to forget Mindoir." Dhar'sok thinks a moment, until a cunning grin comes to his ugly face. "Ohh. Ohoho...the tough little farm boy. All grown up." He chuckled maliciously. Shepard stopped several paces from the warlord and faced him with his rifle in hand. "And you really have gotten old, Goral." The warlord chuckled once again and faced Shepard likewise. "I'm going to be honest, human. I'd kind of hoped you just curled up in a ball somewhere and died, in a puddle of your own piss and tears. Made things simpler for me." Dhar'sok laughs heartily. Shepard retorted, "Then you should have finished the job, and killed me too that day on the farm." Dhar'sok is silent for a moment after this, as if he was considering if that would have saved his skin. Shepard continued before the batarian could cook up a response, "What's the matter, Goral? You got too good at killing defenseless civilians, you forgot how to kill someone who can actually fight back?" Dhar'sok bares his teeth at the insinuation, and after a moment, barks the order at his guards, "Kill him!" Dhar'sok's guards had only just raised their weapons before Shepard raised his own Lancer rifle and dropped them all with precise bursts. All of his guards dying around him, Dhar'sok was taken aback and drew his pistol, taking aim at Shepard. "Y-you! You stubborn son of a bitch. Why can't you just die already!" Shepard threw down his own gun and eyed Dhar'sok ferociously, drawing a combat knife from his belt. "Here's your chance, Goral." The batarian warlord laughs loudly. "Hah! You damn idiot. I could just shoot your foolish ass here and now." Shepard cracks a smile that almost seems to dare death. "You're afraid of me, Dhar'sok." The batarian growls and bares his teeth, pausing before speaking. "I'm not afraid of you." The batarian laughed and repeated himself. "I'm not afraid! Dhar'sok Goral fears nothing, much less some...nameless farm boy with a death wish!" Dhar'sok threw down his pistol and drew a jagged batarian knife. "I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!!" He bellowed, and the batarian charged at Shepard with all his fury. The two engaged in a fierce knife fight, with Dhar'sok swinging his blade widly, Shepard dodging and parrying his knife strikes with precision, though he had to dodge frequently because of the sheer brutality and abandon of the batarian. The two did battle with their knives until Dhar'sok struck out savagely and took Shepard by surprise, disarming him of his knife. As Dhar'sok saw his opening, the batarian lunged out for a killing blow, intending to sink his knife into Shepard's skull. Shepard dodged though by throwing his head back, though the blade still found his flesh. The falling knife of the batarian missed his cranium and instead sliced into the right side of Victor's face, cutting from his high brow down to his cheek. Shepard screamed in pain, Dhar'sok laughing triumphantly before lunging at Shepard again, only for the Commander to grasp the batarian's arm and fracture his forearm with a precise elbow strike, causing the warlord to drop his knife. Nevertheless, Dhar'sok tackled Shepard and pinned him down, grasping his head in an attempt to gouge his eyes, or crush his skull, or both. The wicked grinning batarian squeezed on Shepard's open, bleeding gash on the right side of his face, as the Commander screamed in pain again, but focused his pain into a deadly survivalist edge. Shepard grasped the batarian's arms and using all his strength, forced them off his face. Immediately afterwards, Shepard headbutted Dhar'sok, causing him to recoil and fall off of Shepard. Reaching over swiftly, Shepard grabbed the batarian's knife and sunk it into Dhar'sok's leg, causing the batarian to scream in pain as he was crippled and unable to get up. Shepard stood up and approached the crippled Dhar'sok Goral, attempting to crawl away. Panting, Dhar'sok began to plead, "Please, human! Let me go, spare me...and I will give you -ungh- anything!" Shepard scowled, "It's too late for that, scum." Dhar'sok continued blabbing, "Y-you want credits? Take them, all my credits! My-my ship! It's yours, I swear!" Shepard heard enough, he bellowed, "I won't be taking your possessions. Just your life." Dhar'sok panicked, shaking his head. "No, no! Please! I beg you!" Shepard didn't hear any of it. The Commander straddled the wounded batarian and began punching his skull relentlessly, again and again, meaty crunch after meaty crunch until the screaming stopped. Squelching punches continued, even after the batarian's screaming and wailing had ceased. Shepard's fists were covered in blood, and red spray landed upon his cut face. It took a few moments before Shepard realized what he was doing, what he did to this man. Panting, bloody, the Commander stood up off the destroyed batarian, and felt his own cut, bleeding face. Silently, the Commander walked away, back to the LZ. That was it. His parents were avenged, or so he felt. ==== Aboard the SSV Normandy ==== Shortly after the raid on Torfan, Shepard returned to Arcturus Station, where he got the right side of his face stitched up. Unfortunately for Shepard, the blade of Dhar'sok did irreparable damage to his face, giving him a long and nasty scar after the healing process had ended. This scar remained for years and years afterwards. Shepard felt lucky, though, that he managed to keep his presence on Torfan a secret from the Alliance brass, for a while anyway. However, in 2183, five years later, his luck ran out. Though there was something of a delay in Alliance record-keeping thanks to the excitement that surrounded the recent raids on pirates around the Terminus systems, ballistics forensics managed to catch up with Shepard as they linked his rifle to the dead batarian guards on Torfan. Shepard received the news that he was to be tried for disobeying direct orders from the Alliance's admirals. Shepard felt indignant, but regardless did not forsake his honor, agreeing to stand trial. Had the case been brought before the military courts, Shepard accepted the fact that he would likely have been court-martialed, but this was not to be, thanks to the intervention of one of the most respected officers in the Alliance navy - Captain David Anderson. Shepard had made his peace with his fate, not regretting his decision to take revenge, but also respecting whatever verdict the court would reach. However, the day he was to be brought in for his trial, Captain Anderson stepped in and spoke with the judge. Anderson made his case for Shepard, claiming that though Shepard did violate Alliance military law, his history of service and psych profile betray no hints of a malevolent person or a traitor. Anderson saw in Shepard a true leader, an excellent soldier, and though prone to acting on impulse, he had rare courage and mettle, even among marines, among N7. Anderson's history with Spectre-hood gave him a unique outlook, claiming that the Alliance might need rule breakers from time to time, rule breakers who do so in the name of good. Anderson's sincere and moving testimony influenced the court to clear the charges on Shepard's name. Shepard likewise was deeply affected by Anderson taking a stand for him. Shepard claimed humbly, "I appreciate what you said, Captain. But...I don't think I'm worthy of such a passionate defense." Anderson dismissed this notion, "Nonsense, Shepard. You're worth every word of it. The Alliance needs more soldiers like you. Soldiers who aren't afraid to take the gloves off, get down and dirty, even if the politicians don't like it." Thus began Shepard and Anderson's long and strong relationship, not just as Captain and Commander, but as mentor and student, friends. Shepard looked up to Anderson very much, seeing him as a father figure, an inspiration. And Anderson in turn saw Shepard as a new face for the Alliance, a man who would shape the future of the Alliance navy, if not humanity as a whole. It was not long after Shepard was cleared of all charges against him, that Anderson requested Shepard join his command as his XO, to serve aboard the prototype SSV Normandy of which he was recently named the Commanding Officer. The SSV Normandy was a prototype Alliance frigate developed by human and turian engineers as a collaborative effort between the two species, possessing cutting-edge technology never before seen. Shepard was excited but humbled by the offer. He had never received such an opportunity to serve with such distinction aboard such an advanced and beautiful vessel. He especially was humbled to serve directly under a man of such renown as Captain Anderson. Gladly, Shepard accepted, becoming the Commander of the SSV Normandy. The first thing Shepard did after coming aboard the Normandy and becoming familiarized with the ship and crew, was approach Anderson and ask, "What are your orders, Captain?" Anderson replied, "Shepard...let's see what we can find." Shepard was part of a small but tight-knit crew that was put together by Captain Anderson himself, to serve aboard the brand new prototype Normandy. It was here that Shepard first met another man brought onto the team by Anderson, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau. Joker was an extremely skilled pilot and unashamed to admit it. Though Shepard was initially somewhat averse to Joker's usually less-than-serious approach to the mission, Shepard respected Joker as a pilot and a man who overcame incredible odds brought on by his brittle-bone disease. It wasn't long before Shepard and Joker became friends. During his service on the Normandy, Shepard learned to open up far more than he was ever used to. The small size of the crew combined with the manner that Captain Anderson ran his ship; tight and disciplined but yet encouraging camaraderie, enabled Shepard to be more comfortable with opening up and trusting those he served with. While serving aboard the Normandy, Shepard also made good friends with other important members of the crew; Chief Navigator Charles Pressly, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Karin Chakwas, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, Corporal Richard Jenkins, and a man who would come to be a very good friend of his, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Shepard felt a connection with these people unlike anything he had experienced before in his military career, in the marines and even N7. Shepard came to trust each of these people with his life, and these connections were put to the test later that same year in 2183, when the Normandy was sent on its first big mission, a shakedown run to the idyllic human colony of Eden Prime. === The Eden Prime War === ==== Eden Prime ==== Shepard, Captain Anderson, and the crew of the Normandy were tasked with a simple shakedown mission, a complete test run of all the Normandy's systems and the roles of the crew. The Alliance designated this mission to take place on Eden Prime, a peaceful human colony. However, there was a snag in the original plan. Before the mission could commence, the Galactic Council based from the Citadel ordered the Normandy to take aboard a special passenger - a turian Spectre named Nihlus Kryik. Captain Anderson reluctantly agreed, and the entire crew of the Normandy greeted Nihlus with suspicion. Shepard too, was very unsure about the turian clad in black. Shepard felt shadowed by Nihlus, as if the turian was constantly watching him. But Shepard had nothing to hide, nothing to fake. He put it out of his mind and continued operating the way he always did, dutifully, with honor and respect. Though he knew little of the colony beyond what he was told by his crew, Shepard knew something remained unspoken about this mission. The Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a simple shakedown mission. Finally the mission was a go, and the Normandy made for the colony of Eden Prime. As the ship approached its destination, Shepard was called back to the comm room by Captain Anderson for a briefing. On his way back through the Normandy, Shepard took a few moments to speak with Joker, Pressly, Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. He made a point to speak with his friends, get a sense of their feelings on the mission. Shepard heard them all voice similar concerns, that something went unspoken about the mission - there was far more going on than a simple shakedown run. When he was finished speaking to his friends among the crew, Shepard made his way to the comm room only to be met with Nihlus, who was waiting for him. Nihlus greeted Shepard and told him that they needed to talk. Shepard agreed and was asked what he knew about Eden Prime. Shepard knew little, and as Captain Anderson entered the room, the true details of the mission were revealed. Anderson revealed that the mission the Normandy was tasked with was no shakedown run at all. In fact, the mission to Eden prime was to retrieve a prothean beacon. Shepard exclaimed that he knew there was more to the mission than they let on. Anderson also revealed that Nihlus' presence on board the Normandy was to evaluate Shepard's performance as Commander of the mission, in order to determine his fitness to join the Spectres. Shepard was taken aback, asking if the Alliance was on board with it. Nihlus explained that he was the one who proposed Shepard as a candidate to join the Spectres, admiring his remarkable strength of will, calmness under pressure, and skills in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Nihlus had intentions to accompany Shepard on more missions and serve as a mentor to the new Spectre should the evaluation be positive. This news was a revelation for Shepard. He had no idea how much of his performance and actions had been watched by the Spectres, and now potentially joining their ranks as the elite of the elite? Shepard didn't know whether to feel honored, or apprehensive. Just then, the mission to Eden Prime became far more complicated as a distress call was intercepted on the Normandy. The call was from Eden Prime, where marines were under attack from synthetic soldiers, and an immense, strange warship of unknown make - a dark vessel with claw-like appendages reaching down upon the peaceful world of Eden Prime. Shepard studied the ship with tightened eyes. He could feel a sense of destiny taking form...like everything he knew was about to change. Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus all got very bad feelings about the situation, and prepared to land on Eden Prime fully geared for combat. The Normandy flew onto the drop point, and Commander Shepard along with Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko all touched down and searched the colony. As Shepard gave the order to advance, they were ambushed by the mysterious and deadly geth, Corporal Jenkins being gunned down immediately. Shepard kept his cool, he and Kaidan destroying the geth. "Ripped right through his shields. He never had a chance." Kaidan said, inspecting his body. Shepard looked down at Jenkins' corpse, and then to Kaidan, "We'll make sure he receives a proper burial, but we can't do anything more for him right now. I need you to stay focused." He spoke with cool determination, and Kaidan refocused. They then moved on further towards the site of the beacon. As they proceeded through the colony, they came across a single surviving soldier under attack from geth. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed the geth and rushed to the soldier's aid. She identified herself as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and explained what happened to her squad during the attack. Shepard inquired about the prothean beacon, and Ashley pointed them towards a dig site the local researchers were working on. Shepard was impressed with her combat skills and recruited her into his squad. The Commander quickly came to like Ashley, for her skills and respect for other people. As they moved on to find the beacon, they discovered human victims impaled on large metal spikes. These corpses reanimated, as synthetic-augmented husks. Shepard was disgusted seeing this, what the geth were doing to these poor innocent people. He knew this had to stop. As Shepard's squad proceeded they liberated and assisted more civilians who were hiding. In their search for the prothean beacon, Shepard received a comm from Nihlus informing them that he'd meet them as the spaceport. As Shepard proceeded in that direction, he heard a single gunshot. As they crested the hill to the spaceport they destroyed more geth, and Shepard saw with his own eyes; a massive, horrific warship that seemed to resemble an insect or squid, rising from the surface of Eden Prime and emitting a grating rumbling sound. Completely taken aback, Shepard and the squad watched before the Commander ushered them all onward, they still had a mission to perform. As they advanced into the spaceport they found Nihlus' dead body lying on the floor. "Shot in the back of the head." Shepard noted. "Hold on! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley shouted, and Shepard and his squad drew their guns and took aim. A frightened worker revealed himself and explained that he was hiding from the geth. Shepard demanded to know what he saw of Nihlus' death. The worker explained that Nihlus was shot by another turian who Nihlus referred to as "Saren". The worker then explained that Saren took the tram to the other side of the station, where the prothean beacon was located. "We need to get to that beacon before it's too late." Shepard said, and with that the squad headed out. Shepard and his squad used the tram to access the far end of the station, and they realized several large bombs were primed to detonate and destroy the colony. Shepard disarmed them, and they destroyed several more geth. Finally, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley found the prothean beacon, situated on a large overlook. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. We have the beacon. Requesting immediate evac." Shepard spoke into his comms, as Ashley and Kaidan approached the beacon. "Incredible, a working piece of prothean technology..." Kaidan said softly, and Ashley took note of a glowing aura that surrounded the beacon, uttering "It wasn't doing anything like that when I last saw it..." As she got closer, the beacon seemed to influence her, seizing her in place and causing her pain. Shepard saw this and quickly dove for her, shoving her out of the way and instead becoming arrested by the beacon. Ashley attempted to help, but Kaidan held her back, "No, it's too dangerous!" Shepard's mind was set ablaze as visions raced through his mind, of untold violence, death and gore, perpetrated by marauding machines. Victor clenched his teeth, his eyes racing and his mind burning from the intensity of the visions. Shepard's iron will kept him sane, and kept him rooted with reality even as he struggled to fight the visions from driving him over the edge. Finally the beacon released him, and Ashley and Kaidan ran over to the Commander, checking to see if he was okay. They radioed the Normandy, requesting immediate pickup. ==== Shepard on the Citadel ==== Shepard awoke on the med bay of the Normandy. A splitting headache helped him come to, as he rose up from the bed. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up!" He could hear the familiar voice of Ashley as he sat up and his eyes regained focus upon Dr. Chakwas' smiling face. "You had us worried, Commander." The Doctor said. Shepard rubbed his forehead before asking, "Hell of a headache, but I'm alright. How long was I out? How's everyone else?" Chakwas explained that Kaidan and Ashley were both well, and that Shepard was unconscious for a few hours. Ashley then piped up and blamed herself for what happened to Shepard, for coming too close to the prothean beacon. Shepard disagreed. "You couldn't have known what would happen." Chakwas then told Shepard that she detected abnormal brain activity and increased rapid eye movement as he was unconscious. Chakwas asked if he was dreaming. Shepard began to remember the horrific images he saw. He was disturbed by what he saw, but revealed it to the best of his ability. "I saw...something...like a vision. I saw...death. Destruction. Truth be told, I...don't know what exactly I saw." It was then that Captain Anderson entered the med bay. "How's our Commander holding up?" Anderson asked. Shepard explained that he was alright. Anderson and Shepard began to discuss his findings on Eden Prime, including the prothean beacon, and this talk of the Spectre Saren. Anderson explained to Shepard that he knew of Saren well. A radical human hater, known to be ruthless in his methods, and now seeming to be intricately connected to the geth, the strange warship, and the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard did not hesitate as he rose to the issue. "I'll find some way to stop him." Shepard stated. Anderson cautioned though, that the events taking place were too big for just them, they needed to petition the aid of the Galactic Citadel Council. As much as Shepard wanted to hunt down Saren on his own, he realized Anderson was probably right - they would need to expose Saren to the Council. Anderson then requested to know what exactly happened with Shepard. He regaled Anderson of what he saw to the best of his ability. "Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. I saw...machines. Geth, maybe. They were slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard spoke with disgust. The grisly images implanted in his brain were horrific. Recalling memories of the violence and gore he witnessed in his past. Mindoir, Akuze... Shepard didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew something needed to be done. He just didn't know what, or how. Anderson offered direction, "We need to take this to the Council, Shepard." Shepard wasn't convinced that the evidence they had was enough to do anything. "What are we going to tell them? That I had a bad dream?" Shepard asked, uncertain that anything they had could implicate Saren. Still, Anderson insisted, it was worth a try. All of humanity was at stake, and their best path forward was to convince the Council. Anderson then requested Shepard direct Joker and the Normandy to the Citadel. As the Normandy entered the Citadel's airspace, many of the crew including Shepard and Ashley looked out the windows to view the awesome armada of the Citadel, including the asari warship the Destiny Ascension. Shepard was amazed by the military might of the asari and the Citadel as a whole. If there was any hope of stopping Saren, perhaps it would rest with the Council. Joker requested permission to land, and as the Normandy landed, Anderson, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan were all called to meet with the human ambassador, Donnel Udina himself. Shepard could tell by Anderson's reaction to this summons, that this wouldn't be a particularly friendly meeting. As Shepard entered the citadel for the first time in his life, he was truly amazed. Never before had he seen galactic cooperation on such a large, impressive scale. The various alien races all dwelling within the same space station, the grand slopes and elegant architecture, was completely unlike anything Shepard had ever seen before. Witnessing all this, gave Shepard an appreciation for humanity's potential place in the galactic community, not just as an independent force, but as one that could cooperate with and help the other alien races, as well as prove themselves worthy of respect. Shepard, Anderson, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Udina's office, where they were greeted with scorn. Immediately, Udina referred to the mission to Eden Prime as a failure, blaming Shepard and his squad for Nihlus' death. To Udina, this cost humanity a key place in galactic society, removing any hope of there being a human Spectre. Shepard had enough of Udina's posturing, and frustrated, claimed that Saren was the true problem, he was a threat to all humans and their colonies in the galaxy, and he'd wipe their species out if they don't stop him. Udina did not appreciate Shepard's tongue, but acknowledged the threat of Saren and petitioned the Council to assemble for a hearing. Though Shepard had Udina were immediately at odds, Shepard appreciated the move. Shepard, Anderson, and his squad then went to the Citadel Tower for the hearing. As Shepard made his way up the Presidium with Ashley and Kaidan, they came across two turians in C-Sec uniforms having a heated discussion. One turian wore a tactical visor, and was clearly irritated at his superior. He petitioned that the hearing needed to be stalled so he could dig up more information on Saren proving his crimes. The superior officer however, denied this request and told him to leave it alone. As the superior officer left, Shepard approached the turian with the tactical visor. The turian introduced himself as Garrus Vakarian, and Shepard likewise introduced himself as they shook hands. Garrus explained that he'd been trying to nail Saren for a while but so far had not dug up anything substantial for his investigation. He wished Shepard luck in the hearing, and taking his leave, the Commander and his squad moved on. Shepard arrived at the tower to see the Council assembled, and Ambassador Udina attempting to butter them up and to take action against Saren. Shepard also saw that the Council had Saren himself on vidcom for the hearing. Shepard looked upon Saren with anger, and Saren too, saw the Commander as he approached, meeting him with as cunning an expression as a turian can deliver. During the hearing, the Council was entirely unconvinced as no evidence was brought forward, other than the testimony of the dockworker. Unfortunately for Shepard, the matter was simple for Saren to dismiss. He was the Council's favored Spectre after all, and he simply dusted off the accusation that he murdered Nihlus, claiming he was a good friend. Anderson then brought up Shepard's vision from the prothean beacon, but Saren also shrugged this evidence off, stating that was no evidence at all, and the Council agreed. Saren then turned his attention to Shepard himself, insulting him. Saren accused Shepard of, like Anderson, blaming others for their shortcomings, and assigning this trait to the entire human race. Shepard retorted furiously, pointing our Saren's hatred for humanity to the Council. "You humans need to learn your place." Saren responded, insulting his species further by claiming they had no place in the Council, or the Spectres. Udina was indignant at this, infuriated at Saren's impudence. Saren then mocked the trial as a whole, and his vidcom was ended. The Council deliberated only for a moment, before adjourning the hearing for lack of evidence. Shepard, Udina and Anderson all departed the Council chamber following this, and they discussed their next steps. Udina immediately faced Anderson and claimed it was a mistake to bring Anderson into the hearing, stating their bad history made the Council question their motives. Udina's recommended that Anderson stand aside, and Shepard rebuked Udina, "You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of this investigation!" Anderson then reassured Shepard, "He's right. I should step aside." Shepard knew they couldn't just give up, they had to stop Saren. Anderson and Udina were on board, and they acknowledged that Shepard would need to be the one to do this. As they were planning where to begin, Shepard remembered the turian Garrus Vakarian and his investigation into Saren, figuring this would be a good place to start. To locate him again, Udina pointed Shepard toward a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Anderson expressed disgust for Harkin, and in turn pointed Shepard to a volus named Barla Von, an agent for the Shadow Broker, who was likely to have information on Saren. Shepard vowed to seek them both out, and he, Ashley and Kaidan, set out on their quest to find evidence against Saren. Shepard decided to start with Harkin, who was wasting time at a gentleman's club in the Wards called Chora's Den. Shepard and the squad made it down to the Wards, where they were attacked by assassins working for Saren. Shepard defeated them easily. Making their way into the seedy, licentious club, Shepard came across Harkin sitting in the back. Shepard confronted the layabout C-Sec officer, asking him why he wasn't on duty. Harkin claimed he was on break, but Shepard doubted it. He inquired about the location of Garrus, and Harkin responded by telling Shepard about Anderson's embarrassing failure at joining the Spectres. Shepard lost his patience and flashed his gun, demanding Harkin tell him where Garrus was. Harkin caved and revealed he was up at the med clinic seeing a Doctor Michel. Shepard and the squad then headed up from the Wards to the med clinic. Shepard traversed the markets of the Citadel until coming upon the med clinic. He opened the door, only to see several armed paid thugs harassing Doctor Michel, threatening her that if she screamed they'd kill her. Shepard hollered at them, the thugs panicking and their leader grabbed Michel, holding her with a gun to her head. Suddenly Garrus sprung up from his hiding place and opened fire on the lead thug, killing him. A fierce firefight ensued between Shepard and Garrus versus the squad versus the paid thugs, ending when the last thug was shot and killed. Garrus thanked Shepard for his assistance in taking down the thugs, and Shepard responded by chastising Garrus for his reckless behavior, which might have potentially gotten the doctor killed. Garrus apologized, and they checked on Dr. Michel. Michel explained that the thugs were sent by a criminal named Fist, and that they were looking for a patient she treated. Shepard was curious and asked who this patient was. Dr. Michel explained that she was a frightened quarian, and Shepard asked about the quarian. Dr. Michel revealed that the quarian had important information involving the geth and Saren, and that Michel had pointed her to Fist. This was a lightbulb moment. Shepard realized that this was what he was looking for, the potential link between Saren, the geth, and Eden Prime. 'And if she's holding on to that information,' Shepard thought as he once more looked to the dead thugs. 'She's in danger.' Garrus was impressed by Shepard's strong drive, skills in combat, and his actions against Saren. Garrus requested to join the Commander. Shepard in turn respected Garrus' skills and intelligence, though he felt his recklessness could become a liability, he agreed to add Garrus to his crew. Then, Shepard, Garrus and Ashley set out to find Fist, and in doing so, the quarian. Shepard and his squad returned to Chora's Den, only to find the club had been fortified since their last visit, Fist having caught wind of the Commander's attack plan. Shepard, Garrus and Ashley were forced to fight their way through the club, dropping thug after thug in a deadly firefight that saw many of Fist's men killed. As they made their way to the back rooms, Shepard and his squad confronted a few workers who were prepared to fight, but Shepard told them to leave, and find new work. They workers agreed, to Garrus' surprise. Finally Shepard made it to Fist's personal room, where they were met with attack sentries. They were destroyed, and Fist cowered on the floor. Shepard approached the frightened thug drew his pistol on him, and demanded to know where the quarian was. Fist refused, and Shepard growled in response, "You have exactly three seconds to come clean before I start shooting." Terrified, Fist agreed and revealed that the quarian was in the upper Wards, he'd set up a dummy meeting between her and some assassins that would take care of her. With that, Shepard ordered Fist to get off the station or be punished. As Fist departed, Shepard and the squad raced to the upper Wards to save the quarian. As Shepard and his squad were making their way out of Chora's Den, they were attacked by even more thugs attempting to stop them from disrupting the meeting. Once again, Shepard and his team dispatched them with ease. Shepard raced up the stairs to the upper Wards, rushing through the door to see just ahead, the meeting had gone awry. Shepard saw her, the quarian. She was all right. They made it just in the nick of time. The quarian had been jumped, but she deployed a flash bang which stunned the assassins as they came at her, and the firefight began as Shepard and the team arrived. Within a few moments, Shepard's skills saw him through the firefight as the assassins were shot and killed. Then, Shepard approached the young quarian. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she expressed her anger and surprise to him. Shepard looked her over with concern and asked, "Are you alright? Were you hurt in the fight?" The young quarian raised a reassuring hand, "I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help..." Her eyes and Shepard's eyes met . "Tell me, who are you?" The quarian asked, very curious about her rescuer. Shepard was explained reassuringly, "I'm Commander Shepard. I heard you have data that connects the rogue Spectre Saren and the geth." The quarian responded affirmatively, and what's more, agreed to help, as she too sought to expose Saren's involvement with the geth. Shepard, the quarian, Garrus and Ashley all departed the Wards, heading now to Ambassador Udina's office, to present the evidence the quarian possessed. ==== Becoming a Spectre ==== Promptly after rescuing the young quarian girl from the assassins in the Wards, Shepard and his allies returned to Ambassador Udina's office in order to personally deliver her evidence incriminating Saren in a plot with the marauding geth. Hearing of Shepard's exploits irritated Udina. Upon entering his office, the Ambassador scolded Shepard for the chaos that erupted in the Wards and Chora's Den. However, Udina stopped short as he saw the young quarian female Shepard had in tow. "Who is this?" Udina questioned. The quarian did not hesitate in her introduction, "My name is Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Udina glanced at Shepard and asked what exactly the meaning of this was, and what the quarian was doing in his office. "I'm making your day, Ambassador." Shepard responded, explaining that she had evidence that pointed to Saren being behind the attack on Eden Prime. Shepard nodded to Tali, to allow her to explain. Tali then began to describe how she came upon this information. She explained that while she was on her pilgrimage, she discovered geth beyond the Perseus Veil, beyond which the synthetic beings never go. Curious, Tali waited to isolate a single geth from its unit before disabling it, and removing its memory core. Examining it, she found recordings from Saren that explained exactly what his plan was. "What did you find?" Shepard asked, and Tali used her omni-tool to play the recording she found. As the voice came through, Shepard, Anderson, and Udina all recognized the voice as Saren's unquestionably. Saren described the mission to Eden Prime as a victory. "We are one step closer to finding the conduit." The voice ended. Anderson immediately spoke, "That's Saren, no doubt about it." Shepard agreed, "This is what we needed. This confirms Saren was behind Eden Prime. We finally have what we need to take him down." Tali interjected, "Wait. There's more to the recording." Tali allowed the rest of the recording to play, and after Saren finished his sentence, a female voice slithered from the omni-tool, "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Udina spoke ponderously, "I don't recognize that other voice." Anderson turned to look at Udina. "The Reapers?" Shepard's brow furrowed as his mind seemed to click at the sound of the word, Reapers. Immediately the vision he received from the beacon on Eden Prime began flashing in his head. "...I feel like I've heard that name before." Tali looked at Shepard, and offered an explanation. "According to the memory core, the Reapers were an advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. The geth revere them as gods. The pinnacle of non-organic life. The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then vanished!" Clearly the claim was tantalizing, and Tali was more than curious about it. Still, the silence from the room seemed to speak for itself as to everyone's thoughts. Shepard couldn't explain it, but he felt Tali's words ring true. Something about the vision he had, it was too real, to visceral, to vivid to be false. He saw it, the Reapers wiped out the Protheans. Tali spoke once again, "...At least, that's what the memory core says." Udina shook his head, "I don't know about these 'Reapers', but this evidence is more than what we need to bring Saren to justice." Shepard raised his eyes from the floor after what seemed like an hour, and spoke up to Udina, "She's telling the truth. The Reapers exist, and they're the true threat." Anderson attempted to calm Shepard, "We need to take things one at a time, Commander. Right now, we need to focus on bringing Saren down." With that, Udina was prepared to bring the evidence forward to the Council. Just then, Ashley piped up and asked what was to be done about the quarian. Tali, annoyed, reiterated her name, insisting she be called by it. Shepard glared at Ashley, very ticked at her disrespect. Shepard conveyed with his eyes that the decision was his. Tali stood before Shepard and made her case to join him, explaining her knowledge of the geth and her skill with technology. "Let me help you." She requested. Shepard didn't have to think about it much, he knew she would be an absolute asset to the team. However, he was concerned about her pilgrimage, namely, interfering with it. "What about your pilgrimage? Wouldn't this mission get in your way?" Tali shook her head fervently, explaining that the pilgrimage was about proving one's worth to the quarian people. "What kind of person would I be if I turned my back on something as important as this?" She asked, and with that, Shepard was convinced. "I know you'll make a great addition to the team. Welcome aboard, Tali." Tali seemed to smile even beneath her helmet...her eyes gave it away. "Thanks...you won't regret this." She said. Somehow, Shepard knew he wouldn't regret the decision. With that, the meeting was disbanded, and Udina went off to prepare another hearing with the Citadel Council, this time with all the evidence they needed to see justice done. Shepard, Tali and Garrus then moved out to attend the Council meeting. For the second time that day, Shepard rose the steps from the Presidium to the Council Chamber, this time with Garrus and Tali with him. Anderson was waiting just before the Council chamber, and ushered Shepard in. "Good, you're here, the hearing's begun." As Shepard walked out onto the platform, Tali's recording was already playing for the Council to hear. Once the incriminating evidence had been heard through, the Council unanimously agreed that Saren had committed crimes against the galaxy, and was to be stripped of his Spectre rank. The Asari Councilor also revealed the identity of the female voice in the audio recording speaking to Saren - it was in fact an asari matriarch named Benezia. Shepard realized that an asari matriarch would make for a very dangerous ally to Saren, and he made it clear to the council he would track her down as well. Still, the Salarian Councilor expressed curiosity about the Reapers mentioned in the recording. Shepard explained to them that the Reapers were a machine race that wiped out life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago. However, after hearing this, the Council was just as quick to dismiss it as they did with Saren's guilt in the hearing prior. "You doubted me once before, don't make the same mistake again." Shepard cautioned. The Turian Councilor, doubtful, questioned Shepard about the Conduit. Shepard had nothing to share. However, he reasoned, if Saren believed it could bring the Reapers back, it was bad enough for them to be concerned. The Council was not swayed, but conceded that Saren was in league with the geth and needed to be stopped. Shepard was frustrated by their obstinance, but Anderson reasoned with Shepard, explaining to the Commander that Saren would be the key to finding this Conduit, and likely stopping the Reapers. Shepard acknowledged this, and realized they needed to go after Saren first. Ambassador Udina was not content with the Council's detatched response to the threat of Saren. Udina demanded the Council send in their fleet to track him down. However, the Council disagreed, as a fleet would never find one man alone. They also feared starting a war with the Terminus systems. Shepard was beyond fed up with the politics of the Council and Ambassador. As the debate raged, he searched inwards to determine what needed to be done to bring down such a rogue and elusive opponent. Someone who could take the fight to him, without being restricted by such politics. Shepard was not afraid, and was determined to get this done. He then realized what he needed to do. Shepard raised his eyes to the Councilors, and his voice thundered through the chamber as he proclaimed, "Send me. I can track Saren down." The Councilors, taken aback, resisted. Udina quickly took Shepard's side for once, claiming they needed somebody who could get the job done with stealth and precision. Shepard's N7 training made him a perfect candidate. The Councilors did not appear convinced. Shepard persisted. "If you want to take Saren down, I'm your best chance. I'm ready." The Councilors finally appeared to pay this thought serious consideration. After a few moments of deliberation, the Council came to a conclusion. "Commander Shepard, step forward." The Asari Councilor said. Shepard looked at Anderson, and Anderson looked back with an approving smile, and a gleam in his eye. The Captain gave Shepard a knowing nod. Shepard smiled back at Anderson, and stepped forward to stand before the Council. Delegates gathered around to witness the ceremony. The Councilors gave a spirited speech about the role of the Spectres, as the protectors, the last line of defense of the galactic community - outstanding individuals whose talents made them stand out from the rank and file, to do what needed to be done for the good of all people, races and creeds. Finally, they named him, Commander Victor Shepard, the first ever human Spectre in galactic history. "I am honored, Councilors." Shepard said, proudly. The Councilors gave him his task, bring down the rogue Spectre Saren, and bring him before the Council to face justice. "I won't let you down, Councilors." Shepard vowed. With that, the Council meeting was adjourned. Shepard then turned to his allies. Udina was excited, he finally got his human Spectre. The Ambassador began, "Well Commander, we've got a lot of work to do. As a Spectre, you're going to need a ship, a crew..." Anderson nodded at this, "We'll make all the arrangements, Commander. Meet us down at the C-sec docking bay when you're ready to deploy." The Ambassador and Captain Anderson then departed the Tower. Tali, watching them leave, then turned to Shepard. "You would think the Ambassador would be more grateful. He didn't even say 'thank you'." Shepard looked at Tali and half-smiled. He appreciated the sentiment, but he had no interest in being placed on a pedestal, or being lauded with praise. His concern was accomplishing the mission. "Hmph. Well, until I catch Saren, I haven't really done my job yet. Come on, let's get ready." Garrus nodded, purposefully, "We're right behind you, Commander." ==== The Hunt for Saren Begins ==== Shepard, Tali and Garrus wasted little time in preparing for the mission ahead of them. A quick stop to resupply was all Shepard needed before he felt confident that he was prepared to leave. Though Shepard was not entirely sure about what would come next, he was nothing if not adaptable and hardy. Come what may, he would handle it. He had to. The human race was counting on him. Shepard and his squad approached the elevator in the C-sec Academy that would take them up to the docking bay. However, Shepard noticed in his peripheral vision a large, imposing figure standing near the elevator well. The figure noticed him as well, and was eyeing him up. 'Another assassin?' Shepard pondered. Possibly. Regardless, he remained temperate and proceeded towards the elevator. Suddenly a booming deep voice spoke, "You, human. You the one they call Shepard?" Shepard then turned towards the origin of the voice, the figure - a large, tough-looking krogan mercenary with three huge scars on his right eye. Tali and Garrus stopped in their tracks. Shepard stood his ground. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" The scarred krogan lumbered towards Shepard as he spoke again, "I heard what you did, with Fist." Shepard didn't move, responding, "Dealing with Fist was part of my investigation." The krogan, finally within arms reach of Shepard, grabbed hold of the Commander's collar armor and shoved him. "That was my job, and when I take a job, I finish it." Garrus muttered to Shepard, "I don't like where this is going." Shepard shook his head, "I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes, only Fist's." The krogan faced Shepard eye to eye, before nodding ever so slightly. "Well it was a good job, anyway." The krogan then explained that for the job's completion, he decided to give Shepard the credit reward on Fist. Shepard was confused. "You're going to pay me for doing my job?" The krogan explained that Shepard earned it. The grizzled krogan mercenary introduced himself as Wrex of Clan Urdnot, and expressed his desire to join up with Shepard's team. "Why do you want to work with me? You're a mercenary, what stake do you have in this?" Wrex answered flatly, "I go where the action is. And this that's happening with Saren, it's big. A storm's brewing, Shepard, and you and Saren are right in the middle of it." Wrex said he wanted to be a part of it. Shepard admired the krogan's grit, boldness, and honorable conduct. It was almost a no-brainer when Shepard accepted Wrex into his team. "Welcome aboard, Wrex." The scarred Wrex nodded, "Smart move, Shepard." Shepard and his ever expanding squad then ascended the elevator from the C-sec Academy to the docking bay where the Normandy was in anchor. As they approached the docked Normandy, Shepard was met with the sight of Ambassador Udina talking to Captain Anderson. As Shepard approached, they turned to speak to him. Udina spoke immediately, informing Shepard that he was now in charge of the Normandy, taking over from Anderson. Shepard was taken aback, more surprised and shocked than anything else, though his face did not show it - he was good at masking a troubled mind. Shepard turned to look for Anderson's approval, and as their eyes met, his old friend and mentor nodded with certainty. "Take good care of her, Shepard." Anderson said. Shepard nodded in turn, with respect. "I will, sir." Still, Shepard could not keep his curiosity under wraps. "Captain, why are you doing this?" Anderson, shook his head slightly. "Udina is right, Shepard...I need to stand aside for this. You're a Spectre now, and with your N7 training, you're the only one who'll be able to deal with Saren. You know the ship, the crew. I know you can do this, Shepard." Udina cut in, and warned Shepard that though he was in charge of the Normandy, as well as a Spectre, he was still human, and part of the Alliance. "If you make a mess, I'm the one that gets stuck trying to clean it up." Udina said. Shepard nodded slightly, begrudgingly obliging the Ambassador. "I'll try not to make your job any harder." Udina and Anderson then gave him the leads they managed to dig up about the geth, the protheans, and Saren's mysterious ally, the asari Matron Benezia. Shepard was pointed to the planet Feros, a human colony; Noveria, a corporate and lab world, and the Armstrong Cluster, where they heard reports of a daughter of Benezia, named Dr. Liara T'soni, an expert on the protheans, who vanished somewhere in that area of the galaxy. Having his objectives, Shepard was prepared to get underway in the hunt for Saren. Still, Shepard stayed and spoke with Anderson for a while, while his squad boarded the Normandy. During this conversation, Shepard learned directly from Anderson about the rumor Harkin first mentioned to him - Anderson's brief brush with Spectrehood, and his history with Saren. Shepard learned exactly what kind of person Saren was; a cruel, vicious and deceitful turian, little better than a terrorist, who had no qualms about murdering hundreds of innocent civilians in order to get the job done, and accomplish whatever goals he sought. In the case with Anderson, Saren went out of his way to sabotage Anderson's chance at Spectrehood, allowing him to take the blame for the deaths of so many innocents. In this way, Saren completed the mission, took all the credit, and pinned the blame entirely on his human rival. Shepard now understood just how depraved Saren was. He needed to be taken down, Shepard vowed it. Shepard came aboard the Normandy and had a discussion with Joker. Shepard confided in his pilot about his feelings regarding Anderson's departure. "This feels wrong." Shepard said, "Captain Anderson should be in charge of this. Not me...it feels like I'm stealing the ship from him." Shepard recalled back to his previous failed command, on Akuze. What if it happens again? All it takes is one bad call. And with this crew, that he came to respect and befriend so strongly, he could not let it happen again. Part of him did not want to take the risk. Joker turned to Shepard and offered some reassurance, "Sure, what happened to him was dirty, but nobody blames you. The Captain put you in charge because he trusts you. He knows you can get it done." Shepard thought about it for a moment, about his friendship to Anderson, how he saw him as a father. Anderson's faith in him inspired him. "I won't let him down." Shepard stated, with renewed strength of will. Joker then looked to the comm on the bridge of the Normandy and offered Shepard a chance to address the crew. Shepard nodded, vowing to be honest with them, but also to inspire them. Shepard delivered a spirited, strong speech to his crew about what exactly their foe was, what needed to be done, and about humanity's role in this fight, and in the galactic community. Not just as the ones to accomplish the mission, but as the ones to bring all species together. His crew listened intently, especially his new friends; Garrus, Tali, and Wrex. When Shepard finished, Joker nodded to him respectfully, "Well said, Commander." Shepard turned to face the CIC of the Normandy, at his crew. "Everyone is counting on us. We will not fail. -I- will not fail my crew." Shepard made the decision to become better acquainted with the new members of his crew, the 'aliens'. Shepard proceeded down the elevator to the cargo and engineering deck, where all the recent additions to the crew took up work. Garrus was hard at work calibrating the guns on the Normandy's M35 Mako land exploration vehicle. Tali began work on the engineering deck, where she felt right at home monitoring and working on the Normandy's drive core. As for Wrex, he just stood around, seemingly brooding. Shepard spoke to Garrus first. "Commander, I wanted to thank you for taking me aboard." Garrus said appreciatively, expressing his excitement to finally be out of C-sec and on his own so to speak, working with a Spectre. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Garrus." Shepard said. The two of them had a conversation about how different C-sec was from their current job. Garrus expressed frustration with the C-sec way of handling things, with so much restraint and caution. "It shouldn't matter how I do the job, as long as I do it." Garrus said, and he expressed gratitude that he could now finally do things his way. Shepard shook his head, recalling back to when he felt this way himself. It was a dangerous mindset. "If that means endangering innocent people, then no. We do the job right, not quick. Understood?" Garrus took a step back, "I didn't mean it like that, I was only-" Garrus stopped himself and nodded. "Yes, Commander." Shepard approached Wrex, who was leaning against a heavy cargo container. Wrex nodded at the Commander's approach, and spoke in his deep rumbling voice. "Quite a ship you've got, Shepard." Shepard desired to know more about the rather reserved, tough krogan. "So, what's your story, Wrex?" Wrex stated bluntly, "There's no story. Go ask the quarian if you want stories." Shepard persisted. "You krogan live for hundreds of years. You mean to tell me you don't have any interesting stories to tell?" Wrex then rose off the container he was leaning on, proceeding to lament passive-aggressively about his people's treatment by other races, especially the turians. Shepard nodded understandingly, and attempted to relate to Wrex by recalling his own people's poor first interaction with the turians. Wrex responded by questioning if humanity was wracked with a genetic weapon that practically rendered their species doomed to extinction. He was referencing the genophage, a weapon used against the krogan that sterilized nigh on all female krogan. Shepard shook his head, acknowledging that what happened with the krogan and humans were completely different. Wrex finished his thoughts by saying, "I don't expect you to understand, Shepard, but don't compare my people and yours." Shepard attempted to settle Wrex down. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I was just trying to make conversation. I didn't mean to offend you." Wrex shook his head. "Your ignorance doesn't offend me, Shepard." Wrex explained how he didn't want to hear about how any other race had it hard. Shepard understood. As they spoke more, about the genophage, the fate of the krogan following it, and the slow extinction of their species, Shepard came to a deep respect and sadness he felt for the krogan. To him, they didn't deserve what they received. Shepard then entered the engineering deck, where he came upon Chief Engineer Adams. As Shepard approached, Adams greeted the Commander and asked him about Tali, mentioning her great curiosity for the Normandy's drive core. Shepard thought he understood. "I'll tell her to leave you alone." Adams quickly clarified, she wasn't bothering him, in fact, he was amazed at her engineering skill and acuity. He felt confident that if she were given a mere few months she'd have the Normandy running better than any one of them could manage. Shepard decided to speak with her himself. As he approached, Tali greeted the Commander and practically gushed about the Normandy's engineering work. "Your ship is amazing, Shepard!" She said excitedly, and curiously remarked about how a drive core so large could fit in a ship of the Normandy's size. Shepard was charmed by Tali's energetic and bouncy demeanor, and he decided to indulge her curiosity. "The Normandy is a prototype, cutting-edge technology, the only one of its kind." Tali's eyes seemed to light up in her helmet, "I can see now why you humans have been so successful." She explained that she never new such technological accomplishments were even possible, even with her knowledge of star ships. It was effortless, as Shepard and Tali got into a long conversation about the relationship between star ships and quarian engineering, and her people in general. Shepard was more than curious about the quarians, and Tali regaled the Commander about her people, their government, the pilgrimages, their culture, and the geth. Thanks to Tali, he came to a pretty solid understanding of her people, and also the nature of the geth. Shepard desired his new quarian friend's insight into the geth, and she explained the troubled history the quarians had with their synthetic creations. Shepard came to understand that the quarians struck against the geth in response to the synthetics gaining self-awareness, and the geth retaliated. Though Shepard pointed out that the geth were only defending themselves, Tali claimed it was the only way to save their society as a whole. Shepard understood her point of view, and respected it. He was not there, he could not make a call of what would have been right and what would have been wrong. Shepard enjoyed his long and insightful talk with Tali, and it turned out they were talking for about two hours. He looked forward to the next talk they would have. But for the time being, their mission awaited. Shepard gave the order to Joker, to set a course for the colony of Feros, which was under attack by geth. ==== Feros ==== Finally, the Normandy had reached the human colony of Feros, where, according to intel from Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson, the human colonists were suffering a heavy geth attack. On the surface, the intel seemed reasonable to Shepard. Saren's plan after all, was to exterminate humans, and this attack seemed to fit into his MO. Shepard informed his team to be prepared for a heavy ground assault. As the Normandy entered orbit, Shepard put together his team to go planet-side. Shepard needed a skilled gunman who would be able to fight effectively on the ground and move quickly - Shepard chose Garrus. Plus, he wanted to assess the young turian soldier's combat performance. Also, Shepard realized that if he was going up against a geth assault, he needed someone with a solid understanding of the geth - the obvious choice was Tali. Assembling his small squad, Shepard ordered Joker to dock the Normandy at the Feros spaceport. The Normandy entered the docking bay, and with that Shepard, Garrus and Tali disembarked the Normandy, to be met by a colonist who rushed out to greet them from within the spaceport. The man seemed frantic but also somewhat subdued. Shepard approached the colonist and immediately inquired, "What's going on here?" The colonist immediately answered, if indirectly, that they needed to go speak to a man named Fai Dan. "Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked. The colonist responded that he was the leader of their colony. The colonist remarked about the fact that there was no time, the colony was in trouble. The colonist barely even finished his sentence before an explosion sent him flying, dead instantly. "Get to cover!" Shepard commanded as he and his squad prepared for a fight, and sure enough, it found them. The marauding geth were advancing on their position, coming out of the spaceport. Shepard, Garrus and Tali engaged them in a fierce firefight, and they emerged unscathed. Shepard then ordered they move forward, past the spaceport. They passed through a tunnel that led to one of the main colonial settlements, named Zhu's Hope. Shepard looked around at the area, seeing large infrastructural damage, and people, colonists, holding weapons defending their home. Shepard passed through the settlement slowly, he tried to speak to everyone he could, seeing if they needed help. Shepard had seen enough destruction on the colonies, Mindoir, Akuze...he couldn't let it happen anymore, not without taking action and doing his best to help. Shepard collected all the information he could, and took inventory of what everyone needed. The colony was in dire need of water, power, and food. All these were missing, damaged or stretched thin due to the geth attack cutting off supplies. Shepard had thought to try and use the Normandy to resupply them, but came to realize that he couldn't spare the time to just leave the planet. He needed to stay. Once Shepard had a number of things he needed to retrieve, he then focused again on the main problem - stopping the geth attack. The Commander took the colonist's advice from earlier, and sought out the man named Fai Dan. Once Shepard found him, they exchanged words about the current situation. Shepard's main concern was stopping the attack, but he also became more and more curious about the reason for the attack. It began to seem less like an eradication, and more like a sweeping operation. Still, his primary objective was determining the source of the attack. As Shepard spoke to the colony's leader, he found out that the geth had landed across a large bridge from Zhu's Hope, one of their ships anchoring to a skyscraper, and Fai Dan warned Shepard of heavy geth presence on the bridge. Shepard knew then that this was the origin of their attack. Before anything else could happen though, another geth wave approached Zhu's Hope, and Shepard and his squad fought through the tunnels and destroyed them. Along the way, Shepard managed to track down the failing water pumps and repair them. Shepard also killed an aggressive alpha varren that prevented the colonists from hunting. Shepard also happened to find a disabled Mako vehicle, and removed its power supply. The Commander and his squad returned all these things to the colony, and they were put to use quickly as the colonists began repairing the infrastructure, and regaining access to food and water. With the colony taken care of as well as currently possible, Shepard gave the order for his squad to move onward and make for the skyscraper across the bridge from Zhu's Hope. They descended into the garage area, and got into a Mako vehicle. "Now to the geth base. That's something no intelligent mind would ever think to say." Garrus said, as they moved forward onto the bridge. As Shepard was told by Fai Dan, the geth had a strong defense effort set up on the bridge. Nevertheless, Shepard drove forward and plowed through many geth and barricades, Garrus on the gun helping destroy more distant geth. A crackling transmission over the radio began to come through, which Tali attempted to clean up, to little avail. The geth ship attached to the skyscraper was jamming communications. What Tali was able to make out though, was that a group of colonists were requesting assistance at the base of the tower. Shepard passed through the doors into the tower, passing by a civilian camp entrenched in an old garage. Disembarking the Mako, Shepard and his squad approached the civilians. As Shepard inqured about what was going on, he learned that they were not colonists, but researchers working for the corporation ExoGeni. One of the researchers, a man named Jeong, in particular was quite hostile to Shepard and distrusting. Shepard assured them he had no interest at all in their company or their secrets, only in helping to stop the geth. However, Shepard realized right then and there that there was more going on on Feros that a simple attack. The geth were after something, and it was intertwined with ExoGeni, and their research. Nevertheless, Shepard knew he had to help these people. One of the female researchers begged Shepard for help in finding her missing daughter. "If she's still out there, I'll find her." Shepard vowed to the mother. Continuing his habit of speaking to as many people as possible and trying to help, Shepard came upon another researcher who requested Shepard's help in finding data stored in his computer that got left behind. "Sounds easy enough. What's the catch?" Shepard inquired. The researcher responded, "No catch...it's dangerous work, but not for someone like you." At this, Tali scoffed and glanced at Shepard, "What is it about you that makes people assume we enjoy being in harm's way?" The researcher reassured them, that it wasn't that bad. Shepard also promised to return this data to the researcher. Having new objectives, Shepard and his squad traveled further towards the tower, and engaged another geth defense within the tower's entrance. When these were destroyed, Shepard and his team came upon a force field. Garrus examined it, "No way we're scratching this. We need to find another way in." Shepard located a drop-down point that led further into the tunnels. As they proceeded into a large dark chasm, Shepard remained alert for possible dangers. It was then that they were fired upon. Shepard raised his weapon as his squad sought cover. But then Shepard saw the gunner emerge from the shadows, it was a young woman, who apologized for firing at them, saying she thought they were geth. Shepard asked her who she was, and she revealed herself to be the missing daughter of the ExoGeni researcher he spoke to earlier. Before he sent her back to her mother though, Shepard asked the young woman if she knew anything about why the geth were attacking. The woman revealed that the only research that might prove relevant was a creature that ExoGeni was studying, the Thorian. "The Thorian? What is that, exactly?" Tali inquired. The young woman revealed it was a plant-like creature, that had an almost telepathic-like power. Shepard realized that this was very likely to be something Saren was interested in. Realizing they had to find the Thorian, Shepard sent the young woman back to the camp of researchers. Shepard, Garrus and Tali moved on, and came across a krogan in a heated argument with a VI. As the krogan became alerted to their presence, Shepard and his squad dispatched the krogan, and spoke the VI. "What information was the last user attempting to access?" The VI seemed hesitant to reveal specifics, but ended up divulging the name of Species 37, an organism ExoGeni was researching. Shepard realized that this was the Thorian, Shepard attempted to extract the creature's location from the VI. The VI then informed them that the Thorian was residing directly below Zhu's Hope, and was the subject of an ExoGeni experiment on the colonists of Zhu's Hope. Disgusted, Shepard vowed to put an end to this. He attempted to radio Joker aboard the Normandy, but comms were still down from the jamming signal given off by the geth ship. Shepard knew that he needed to focus on his main objective, stopping the geth attack. As Shepard and his squad advanced further in, they came upon more and more geth squads. Dispatching them one by one, Shepard and his team came across a large claw that had burst through the wall. Tali revealed that the device was an anchoring claw that the geth used to keep their ships attached to surfaces. She also explained that they would need heavy ordinance of some kind to destroy the claw. She advised Shepard that they needed to move further in and find more claws that could be destroyed. Shepard understood it, destroy the claws, send the ship plummeting down to its destruction, stop the geth attack. With this in mind, they moved onwards. Destroying more geth forces in fierce firefights, Shepard and his squad came across a larger claw that seemed central to the anchoring mechanism. Tali looked upon it and gave her assessment, "Same as before, we don't have the ordinance to blow this claw...let's keep looking." Shepard and his squad moved further into the room, Shepard looking around for some loose explosives. Tali, being clever, quickly spotted something that could help them. "Commander Shepard, over here! It's a control terminal of some kind." Shepard approached it, and noticed it controlled a pressure-operated heavy door which the geth ship's claw was obstructing. Shepard read a note attached to the terminal describing a critical pressure which could shear a metal beam like a twig. He knew that this was the ticket to breaking the geth claw. Shepard brought the pressure to the sweet spot, and hit the button to close the door. As the note said, the door slammed shut and cut right through the geth claw. With that, the geth ship lost its anchoring point, and plummeted off the tower, crashing down to a fiery grandiose destruction. Tali was pleased, remarking, "I hope that ship was full of those geth bastards." With the geth ship destroyed, communications seemed to be coming through now. Instantly, Shepard received a communication from Joker aboard the Normandy, who informed the Commander that the colonists on Zhu's Hope appeared to be panicking and attempting to board the Normandy. Shepard told Joker not to panic, he and his squad were on the way. Telling his squad to stick together, Shepard vowed to see them all out of here in one piece. Battling more geth stragglers on the way out, Shepard collected the data from the computer mentioned by one of the researchers. Finally, Shepard and his squad made it out of the tunnels of the tower, and were met with the daughter once again. Shepard confronted her over her knowledge of the Thorian, and the daughter apologized for not mentioning it sooner. She expressed desire to help fix the mistake made by ExoGeni. Shepard believed her, and they all together returned to the researcher camp in the Mako. There, Shepard helped defuse a deadly situation with the jittery researcher Jeong, who viewed the situation as too volatile, not caring about the fates of the colonists. Shepard managed to convince Jeong into helping, as turning the colony around would likely make ExoGeni look good. Jeong was swayed by the Commander, and with that, Shepard and his squad were ready to move and deal with the Thorian beneath Zhu's Hope. However, the researchers at the camp noted that the Thorian would likely try to defend itself from them, by mind-controlling the colonists. They proposed a solution, and gave Shepard an experimental grenade that would knock the Thorian's victims unconscious. Shepard agreed to use it, the last thing he wanted was to hurt the colonists, even if they were forced to fight him. The road to Zhu's Hope was mostly empty, the geth defenses having been destroyed. As Shepard and his squad pulled back up to the garage near Zhu's Hope, they took note of a strange sight. A sickly green-skinned humanoid, lacking clothing, emaciated and hollow. Shepard, Garrus and Tali climbed out of the vehicle and approached, only for the figure to rise and attack. They were forced to put it down. Garrus commented, horrified, "What was that thing? It definitely wasn't human." Shepard looked upon the deformed creature, perhaps it once was human. Nothing could be done for this one, however, he vowed that the colonists who become mind-controlled will remain unharmed. Shepard turned to address his squad, "No hitting the colonists. Even if they fire on us. That's what the grenades are for." Garrus and Tali both nodded at him, the colonists would remain safe. With that, they moved in towards Zhu's Hope once again. Shepard and his squad were indeed fired upon by the colonists, under the influence of the Thorian, which was controlling their minds through its parasitic spores. Shepard applied his training well that day, hurling anti-Thorian grenades at the colonists, which instantly rendered them unconscious. Shepard and his team proceeded through Zhu's Hope and managed to safely subdue the entire colony, with not a single innocent falling to harm. Once they reached the town center, Shepard attempted to use a crane to raise a canister that blocked the route to the Thorian beneath the colony. It was then, that Fai Dan appeared, holding a gun, struggling to fight off the Thorian's influence. Shepard watched carefully, raising his hand in an attempt to settle Fai Dan. The colony's leader spoke in between clenched teeth, "It...wants me to stop you but...I...won't...let it..!" With his last measure of self control, Fai Dan resisted firing at Shepard, instead taking the gun to his own head. As the poor man's body fell to the floor, Shepard turned away in remorse. 'Damn it.' Shepard thought. One had fallen, but he died to ensure the Thorian was dealt with. His focus now, was to save the rest of them. Shepard looked to his team, Garrus and Tali. He was proud of them, and he saw in their eyes as they looked back at him, they were proud of him too. He was glad to have them at his back. Shepard and his squad wordlessly descended into the tunnels beneath Zhu's Hope. Shepard, Garrus and Tali descended a few flights of stairs and finally entered a longer tunnel that cleared out into a large, deep rotund chamber. Tali went over their goals aloud as they entered the chamber, "Okay, so we just need to find this creature, and determine what it-" She stopped short as a horrific sight came into view. "...What it..." Tali continued, as the sight before them registered. A massive, bloated blob of green flesh dangled from the walls and ceiling of the chamber, tentacles sprouted out of its front. The Thorian. Tali's voice took on a tone of disgust. "Keelah...what is that?" Shepard too, was taken aback by the bizarre, hideous organism before them. Shepard took in the situation, before speaking with a dry humor, "We are going to need bigger guns." Shepard stepped forward, closer to the Thorian, and Garrus and Tali followed, and it only took a few steps before the abominable plant began stirring. Shepard and his team watched in shock, as a figure began slithering out of the front end of the Thorian creature. As it stepped onto the floor and rose, they looked upon it - an asari of green skin. Its green eyes fixated on Shepard. This creature that resembled an asari claimed to speak for the Thorian, and spoke about how they were unwelcome. It talked about how others came before Shepard and his team, and stole the Thorian's secrets. The asari creature demanded they leave. Shepard stepped forward again, not intimidated, and demanded the Thorian release the people of Zhu's Hope. The asari creature dismissed this, and said it would not treat with creatures of flesh again. Then, the fight began as the asari attacked, and Shepard and his squad were forced to put it down. Shepard knew now they had no other option but to destroy this thing. He wasn't sure how though. As if on cue, Tali looked into the next room and figured out what needed to be done. "Commander Shepard, look over here, there's something you might find interesting." Tali gestured to tentacle-like appendage roots that anchored the Thorian to the structure. Shepard got it, destroy these anchor points, and the Thorian will fall to its death. Shepard, Garrus and Tali fought their way up through the rotund chamber, destroying Thorian husks and more green asari clones as they went. One by one, root structures were destroyed, and the Thorian's grip weakened. Finally, Shepard and his team destroyed the last anchor point, and with a deep, unnatural screech, the Thorian lost its grip, and fell down the chamber into the dark below Zhu's Hope, to its death. It was then, right after the Thorian met its doom, a pustule-like growth on the wall began to stir. Shepard trained his rifle on it, and as it burst, an asari with normal skin color emerged, and slowly stood up. She expressed momentary confusion, and requested Shepard and his team stand down. Reluctantly, he did so. Shepard then proceeded to question the asari, who identified herself as Shiala, and a servant of the Matriarch Benezia, Saren's ally. Shepard expressed suspicion for her, but she reasoned that she was no threat to them. Shiala informed Shepard about what exactly happened with Benezia that brought her into Saren's service. She told Shepard about Saren's power thanks to his starship named Sovereign. She described Sovereign's ability to wield something called "indoctrination" which allowed Saren to bend the minds of others to his will. This, Shiala explained, was how Saren convinced Benezia to serve him, although she started out attempting to turn Saren from his path of destruction. Tali spoke up as she attempted to come to grips with Shiala's claim, "So, Benezia thought she could convince Saren to stop what he was doing, and it ended up backfiring..." Shepard wasn't too convinced, it seemed too convenient, not to mention unbelievable. "Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy, how could she be mind-controlled?" Shiala explained that indoctrination was powerful, and it was subtle, introduced over a long span that in the end, is absolute control. Shepard realized that if this was true, truly Saren was a force to be reckoned with, as was his starship, Sovereign. Shiala explained that she was used as a bargaining chip with the Thorian by Saren in exchange for the Cipher, which, she explained, was essentially the knowledge associated with being a prothean - culture, understanding, senses. Shiala described the Cipher's importance - it was necessary to make sense of the knowledge contained in the prothean beacon, and it also contained the knowledge of how to Saren planned to unleash the Reapers. Shepard then informed Shiala that he needed the Cipher, no matter the cost. Shiala, more than willing to stand against Saren, told Shepard that as her mind melded with the Thorian, she too had acquired the Cipher, which would help Shepard make sense of the vision he received on Eden Prime. She offered Shepard the Cipher as a gesture of good faith, and Shepard accepted. Shiala then conducted a ritual where she melded her mind with Shepard's, and once again, like on Eden Prime, Shepard's mind was wracked, as if struck by lightning, as visions flooded into his brain, visions of violence, death, destruction, and most importantly, advanced machines behind it all. Shepard clenched his teeth as his closed eyes raced, his mental fortitude holding him together. One of the final images in his brain clearly showed the spaceship, Sovereign, the same one from Eden Prime. Somehow, this warship was connected to the fall of the protheans. This troubled Shepard greatly. He felt he was getting closer to unraveling the secrets of the Reapers. As the visions ended and the mind-melding concluded, Shiala informed him that over time, he would understand the visions better. Shepard's head was throbbing, he clutched his forehead as the pain dissipated. Tali looked over at Shepard, worry in her eyes, "That looked painful...Commander Shepard, are you alright?" Shepard grunted softly, looking over to her reassuringly. "I'm fine, it's just...a lot to take in." Garrus spoke up as well, "We should get you back to the Normandy, Commander. Medical needs to know about this." Before leaving, though, Shepard faced Shiala once more. "What about you, Shiala? What should happen to you?" Shiala seemed remorseful of her deeds serving Saren, and sought to remedy this. "If you allow it, I would like to stay and help the people of Zhu's Hope." Shepard nodded, respectfully. "That's a noble goal, Shiala. Alright, go ahead." Shiala was thankful for Shepard showing such mercy. With that, Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all departed the tunnels, and came back up to check in with the grateful colonists of Zhu's Hope, who thanked them for all they did. Then, together, Shepard and his faithful team went back to the spaceport and boarded the Normandy once again. ==== The Hunt Continues ==== Following the successful mission on Feros, Shepard ordered and all-hands meeting in the comm room of the Normandy. At the meeting, Shepard shared what happened on Feros with the crew. Ashley immediately blurted out her frustration with the situation, "That asari went and messed you up good, Commander. We shouldn't have trusted her." In reference to the Cipher which was given to Shepard. The Commander attempted to calm her down, "She said it would take a while. We just need to be patient." Shepard then confessed to not having any new information to divulge, which frustrated him, and feared he'd upset the crew. Thankfully, they were understanding of his predicament. Kaidan then also reminded Shepard that they had another lead, the asari Dr. Liara T'soni, daughter of Benezia, who was somewhere in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Shepard agreed, and realizing that in order to go up against the Matriarch, her daughter could be useful indeed. He decided that this was their next target. After the meeting was adjourned, Joker informed Shepard that he was prepared to patch a communications to the Council. Shepard authorized the communication, and he addressed the Council of what happened on Feros. The Asari Councilor expressed satisfaction that the mission was a success, and the Turian Councilor butted in claiming that Shepard would always look after human colonies above all else. Shepard retorted swiftly, stating that species had nothing to do with it. He would have done the same for any colony. Regardless, the general sentiment from the Council was approving, and with that, Shepard ended the communication. Shepard went ahead and began to speak with his crew again. He began up at the cockpit with Joker, who greeted him with the less-than-serious joking manner that Shepard had come to expect. Joker made a jest about how next time they touch down, they should avoid the colony of 'mutant zombies'. Shepard got a chuckle out of that despite himself. Proceeding once again down into the cargo area, Shepard had another conversation with Garrus about his days at C-Sec. Garrus mentioned to Shepard how his father was a big inspiration for his joining of C-Sec. His father, Garrus explained, was a by-the-books kind of officer. "My father used to say, 'do things right, or don't do them at all'. C-Sec through and through." Garrus also talked about how he was talked out of becoming a Spectre, thanks to his father. "He hated the idea of someone having so much power and no accountability. He wouldn't like you, Commander. No offense." Shepard just smirked at the thought, then nodded. "I think I can see his point, though." Garrus then cautioned Shepard, "Saren isn't going to play by our rules, or C-Sec's rules." Shepard nodded, understandingly. He was getting fed up with Saren already, and was eager to bring him down. "We'll beat him at his own game. It's the only way to beat someone like him." Shepard said with certainty. And he meant it. He would bend any rules he could to bring this maniacal terrorist down. As long as no innocents come to harm. Garrus nodded at Shepard, approvingly. "I'm right behind you on that, Commander." Shepard then went to speak to Wrex, once again leaning on the cargo container. "So, Shepard, looks like we've got Saren on the run." Shepard nodded, he can't help but crack a small smile, "Indeed we do. Saren's good. But I'm better." Wrex retorted, "Good? He's rotten to the core." The grizzled krogan began to explain how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Wrex revealed that he at one point saw Saren. Shepard's brow raised at this revelation, eyeing the krogan inquisitively. "You saw Saren?" Wrex stated flatly that he worked a job for him once. Shepard's brows furrowed, "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Wrex responded, "I would have if I thought it was important." Shepard crossed his arms as he eyed Wrex, "I think I'd like to know all the same." Wrex then revealed that during his time as a merc he heard about a client that hired mercs for jobs with big pay, and little supervision. When he took this job, Wrex and the other mercs were contracted to take out a Volus trading ship. Wrex explained that he expected to see weapons and credits, but all things of value seemed to be missing from the ship. This is when he saw Saren, simply walking through the captured ship. Wrex talked about his instincts that day; how he immediately got a very bad feeling about Saren, and bailed on the job before the payment went through. And as it turned out, Wrex's instincts were correct. He explained that every single merc that took part in that job and got paid turned up dead. This, Wrex said, is how he knew what kind of person Saren was. Shepard was alarmed at this; he new Saren was a vicious, foul terrorist, but from Wrex's testimony, he also realized that Saren likely got some kind of sick pleasure from death, even pointless death. This turian, Shepard thought, needed to be taken down, now, and he needed to be the one to do it. Shepard passed through the hallway into the engineering deck, and approached Tali, whose mind appeared to be somewhere else. She turned and faced the Commander, and he could see her eyes just behind her helmet appeared troubled. "Oh, hello, Commander Shepard." Tali's voice was soft and low, Shepard recognizing something was amiss. "Are you okay?" Shepard asked, and Tali seemed to relax a little, but seemed to look down. "I don't know, Commander. I mean, your ship is amazing, and your crew has been so good to me, but I just can't help but feel...out of place." Shepard asked her to explain how she felt. Tali went on to talk about how the ship was so quiet, and in fact, this quietness made her feel uneasy, it made it difficult for her to sleep. "The ship is so quiet...how do you sleep at night?" She asked, with genuine curiosity. Shepard couldn't help but be amused at this, she clearly wasn't joking. It was actually pretty cute, Shepard thought. He discussed her issue with her, raising a brow inquisitively, "The silence wakes you up?" Tali explained that on the ships of the quarian flotilla, the last thing anyone would want to hear is silence, it could mean any of the key systems had shut down. "I guess you don't have to worry about that here." Tali said. She also lamented to Shepard how she felt the ship was so empty. However, she said, when she was getting ready for her pilgrimage, she couldn't wait to get away from the crowds on the flotilla. Shepard nodded, understandingly. He knew the feeling. "You're homesick." Shepard said. Tali nodded ponderously. She then reflected to Shepard how she almost missed it now, and she wondered if that was what the pilgrimage was all about, in spirit. Shepard asked if she still intended to go back, and Tali responded that she did, she could never abandon her people. However, she promised to Shepard that she would stay onboard the Normandy until Saren is dealt with, and her feelings wouldn't get in the way of the mission. Shepard was pleased to hear this, but he also felt sympathetic to Tali, he knew what it was like to miss home. As they parted ways, Tali bid him goodbye, "See you later, Commander." Shepard didn't feel right with his young quarian friend being so formal, he considered her a friend, and he could tell that she too, also wanted to see him that way, but was hesitant, perhaps afraid. Shepard figured she just needed a little nudge. He spoke to her in a kind, genuine tone, "Just call me Shepard, Tali. It's alright." Tali seemed to be surprised by the suggestion, but after a moment, he could see her eyes smile at him beneath her helmet, and she nodded gently. Having checked in with his crew, Shepard prepared to move forward with the next stage of the mission, which was to track down the prothean archaeologist, Dr. Liara T'soni. Shepard ordered the Normandy to make a course for the Artemis Tau Cluster. Once they arrived, the Normandy scanned the habitable star systems within the cluster, and eventually, they came across the Knossos System, which contained a planet named Therum. The scans of the planet revealed the presence of prothean ruins, which seemed like the most likely candidate for the planet Dr. T'soni was located. For this mission, Shepard decided to take Garrus and Wrex, as he expected heavy geth resistance, and needed their firepower. Shepard and his squad climbed into the Mako vehicle, and the Normandy air-dropped them planet-side. Thus, the search for Dr. T'soni begun. Joker gave Shepard a tip about high levels of energy readings a ways from the drop zone. Shepard reasoned that finding the source of this energy would be the best place to start looking for the Doctor. Shepard and the squad drove the Mako through the dried lava fields of Therum, maneuvering around the steep hills and lava flows. To complicate matters further, a geth ship was alerted to their presence on the planet, and commenced an attack by dropping troops and geth siege weapons known as armatures to attempt to stop Shepard. Thanks to Garrus and Wrex's skill with the weapons at their disposal, and Shepard's bold driving, they expertly avoided prolonged battles with the geth. Shepard knew that if the geth were here, Dr. T'soni was in grave danger, so he wasted no time. Shepard and his squad passed through the ferocious gauntlet of geth, and reached a lava canyon where only foot travel would allow them to move on. They had to clear a sizeable defense force of geth, but between the three of them, they were more than equipped and skilled enough to handle a few geth. However, as they approached the dig site, a thundering sound roared from the sky down towards them - a geth ship dropped off a heavy walking armature in an attempt to halt their advance. Shepard gave the order for his squad to get into cover, and directing the firefight, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched of the armature, and made their way into the dig site. They had to pass through a tunnel that fed out into a large subterranean chamber, decorated with recently unearthed prothean ruins, unnaturally smooth and countoured structures that were definitely ancient, but incredibly advanced. Wrex scowled as he eyed the structures. "Sterile white. These protheans sure build things homey." Shepard and the squad descended through the use of a few elevators, making their way down through the dig site, however one of them malfunctioned, and they were forced to climb down to the lowest level. It was then that Shepard heard a muffled, soft voice, "Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? Please, I'm trapped and I need help!" Shepard realized someone was trapped down here, and they needed help. As they made it to the lowest level of the dig site, they found a force field, and behind it, a younger asari in scientist's clothes was trapped in a form of suspended arrest. Shepard knew instantly - Dr. Liara T'soni. Liara appeared surprised but pleased at the approach of Shepard and his squad. "Hello? Can you hear me! I need help, I'm trapped in here!" Shepard attempted to calm her, "Dr. T'soni, it's alright. We'll get you out of there. Where are the controls?" Liara explained that the controls were on the inside, and there was no way to open the force field from the outside. The only way to enter the chamber would be to find some other way in. The young asari was terrified, as she explained that Saren's forces were searching for her, and they needed to hurry. There was no time to waste, Shepard understood. The Commander ordered his squad to follow as they pushed further back into the larger chamber, and as they did so, a geth ambush arrived. Shepard and his squad dispatched these geth, and the Commander found a mining laser that was trained on the ground below the prothean ruin where Dr. T'soni was trapped. Shepard knew this was the way to open it. After inputting the correct activation code, the laser fired up and blasted a hole into the floor of the chamber, creating a tunnel that led straight into the prothean chamber. Shepard and his squad proceeded in, and managed to reach Dr. T'soni. "I'm glad you found a way in...please release me!" Liara pleaded. Shepard nodded, "Don't worry, we'll get you free." Just then, Wrex spoke up, giving the Commander pause, "Not so fast, Shepard. This is the daughter of Benezia, we're talking about. She might be working with Saren." Liara defended herself, "What? No, I would never work with that monster Saren!" She explained that she could help them, and would be more than happy to do so. Shepard sensed sincerity in her words. "If she were working with Saren, then these geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." Shepard also reasoned. This seemed to dissuade the suspicion of Wrex, and Shepard accessed the terminal which freed Dr. T'soni. Thanking them for their help, they proceeded to the elevator in order to exit the dig site. As they did so, a deep powerful rumbling within the cavern stumbled them. "What the hell was that?" Wrex said, looking around at the deep cavern. Liara realized what was happening, she explained that the mining laser must have triggered a seismic event, and they needed to get out before the cavern caved in. Shepard knew they could waste no time, he needed to get his people out of there, now. The Commander activated his comm, and radioed his pilot, "Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal! On the double, mister!" Joker responded that they were on their way, but he would need a few minutes. Wrex's grim face formed an irritated frown. "If I die in here, I'll kill him." He growled. Liara managed to get the elevator running, and they ascended, but when they reached the top level, they were accosted by a krogan and several geth - Saren's people. The krogan stepped forward and thanked Shepard for saving them the trouble of reaching Dr. T'soni. Shepard was fed up with these obstacles that kept getting in his way. "If you haven't noticed, this entire place is caving in. We don't have time for this." The krogan responded by admiring how exhilarating the situation was. After refusing to hand over Liara, the krogan gave the order to his geth to attack. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex dispatched their attackers swiftly, and Shepard moved forward, helping to usher his squad and Dr. T'soni out, as the cavern now began to collapse. "Move, move, move!" Shepard roared, as he moved for his people to run. Allowing his friends to go ahead of them, Shepard stayed in the rear to make sure everyone made it out. As the dig site fell into rubble, Shepard and his team managed to escape out the way they came, only just, as a tremendous blast of dust and rock shot out of the entrance with Shepard's departure, the last one out. The Normandy was there waiting for them, ready for dust-off. Shepard and his team made it aboard, narrowly escaping the subsequent explosion of hot ash, dust and rock coming from the area of the ruins, which turned out to be volcanic. Thanks to Shepard's leadership, everyone managed to make it out safely. Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard once again called an all-hands meeting to discuss the mission and bring Dr. T'soni up to speed. As the meeting began, Joker spoke over the comms, expressing in jest his frustration with Shepard's escape plan, talking about how the volcanic eruption could have killed them all and destroyed the Normandy. Liara seemed shocked by Joker's tone, questioning if it was really a time to be making such jokes. Shepard stood up for Joker, "He just pulled our asses out of a difficult situation. He's earned the right to make a few jokes." Shepard felt Joker could indeed go a bit overboard at times, but his respect for the man was far more important. He respected Joker's skills, and though his humor could be uncalled for at times, he was still a friend. Liara conceded to Shepard's point, stating that in truth she knew little about human interaction. Having taken Liara on board, with the understanding she was a leading expert on the protheans as well as the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, Shepard requested the asari scientist share all she discovered about the protheans on her expeditions, that could help them determine the location of the Conduit. Liara mentioned what Shepard already knew, that the protheans themselves vanished about 50,000 years ago. However, Liara also added that very few traces or prints of their existence remained. She described it as if someone came behind them and cleaned up the evidence of their culture. Liara also revealed another interesting fact, she had evidence that the protheans were not the only precursor space-faring civilization, in fact, many more came before, but each were seemingly raptured in what appeared to be cycles of 50,000 years. Liara went on to explain that even though little information remained on the protheans, even less remained on their predecessors. This was frustrating for her, making it nearly impossible for her and her scientific methods to determine what exactly happened to them. This was a striking moment for Shepard, when he realized that what he held in his brain, what was given to him by the prothean beacon on Eden Prime, was knowledge unknown to even leading scientists. He needed to share it. When Liara had finished explaining her understandings, Shepard proclaimed what he knew. "I think I can help you there, Dr. T'soni. I know what happened to the protheans. They didn't just disappear, they were wiped out, by a race of advanced machines called the Reapers." Liara's eyes widened, and she tilted her head inquisitively, "The...the Reapers? I've never heard of them. How do you know this?" Shepard responded, "I interacted with a damaged prothean beacon from Eden Prime. It showed me...images...of the protheans fate. I saw their destruction by the Reapers." Liara was flabbergasted, completely taken aback. She could scarcely believe it, and when Shepard mentioned the cipher that helped him understand the visions better, Liara was even more curious with knowing that another asari, Shiala from Feros, bestowed it upon him. Finally understanding why Saren and the geth wanted her dead, Liara realized that she too could help Shepard understand the visions better using her own mind-melding ability. Liara requested to perform the same action on Shepard. Shepard was beyond fed up with Saren, and was ready to hunt him down and catch him, once and for all. If this could help him along to that goal, he would do it, regardless of the risks. He agreed to let Liara interface with his mind. As they did, Liara came into contact with the exact same visions Shepard had held in his brain for weeks now. Once the mind-melding was complete, Liara almost fell over but steadied herself. Liara explained to Shepard that she now believed him. She also complimented him, describing his immense strength of will in order to bear that burden the way he did. Shepard was flattered, but he didn't consider it an accomplishment. He was a soldier, a soldier who had seen so many haunting sights and had to live with them. This was just another thing. Or so he thought. Unfortunately, Liara confessed to receiving nothing substantial from the visions themselves, it was all still foggy, and she herself was not well after the mind-melding. Shepard and Kaidan advised that she see Doctor Chakwas. Shepard asked if she was alright, and Liara explained that she would be, with some bedrest and proper nutrition. Shepard was relieved. He didn't want her to come to harm over something like this. "Go ahead and see the doctor, Liara." Shepard turned to the rest of his crew. "The rest of you are dismissed." As his team got up and began returning to their stations, Joker once again offered to patch Shepard through to the Council. He agreed once more to update them on the situation. Once Shepard had established comms with the Council, they questioned if he was taking the proper security precautions with Dr. T'soni. Shepard saw where this was going. "Liara isn't a security threat. She's on our side." The Council stated that they hoped he was right. The turian councilor then questioned Shepard's execution of the mission, asking if the destruction of the prothean ruins on Therum was truly necessary. It took a lot of effort for Shepard to not disconnect the call at such a question, but being a truthful man, he plainly stated that the ruins were overrun with Saren's forces. There was no other way. The salarian councilor agreed with his assessment. After the Council's approval of the mission, the call was ended. Shepard had now assisted the colonists on Feros and rescued Dr. T'soni from her perilous fate. What remained now, was to head to the corporation world of Noveria, and investigate an alleged geth presence there, and the second biggest fish of the mission, the Matriarch Benezia. ==== Helping Friends ==== Following the mission to Therum, Shepard once again spoke to his crew, to get a sense of where they all stood in regards to the mission. First, Shepard went and spoke to Garrus. In particular, he was curious about what kind of action Garrus saw in C-Sec. "You worked for C-Sec for a while didn't you? You see any action?" Garrus nodded, "Not as much as you, but yeah." Shepard then asked about if he had any particularly memorable experiences at C-Sec, and Garrus proceeded to talk about a case he had involving a salarian geneticist who was dealing with body parts and organs in the Citadel black market. Shepard listened as Garrus recounted tracking an illegally traded organ, and running DNA samples on it to find a living turian who had no knowledge of organs being traded. It just so happened that this turian worked for the salarian geneticist, Dr. Saleon. Garrus described how he went digging in Dr. Saleon's office, but found nothing, so he instead rounded up known associates and people who did work for Dr. Saleon. During one of the interviews, Garrus discovered one of the detainees bleeding, and when examinated, they found incisions that pointed towards organ harvesting. The organs, Garrus found, were being grown and harvested in vivo. "That was our big break," Garrus explained, "These people weren't just experiments, they were living, breathing test tubes." Shepard's brow furrowed, feeling anger well up inside him over such a horrendous, disgusting tale, "Bastard. I hope he got what he deserved." Garrus shook his head, dejected, "That's the worst part...we never caught him." Shepard was surprised and more than a little upset hearing this, "Why not? What the hell happened?" Garrus went on to explain how Dr. Saleon fled his lab on the Citadel and took his 'test tube patients' with him, preparing to flee aboard his ship. Garrus wanted C-Sec to shoot down his ship and stop Dr. Saleon once and for all, but C-Sec refused due to the complication of innocent people coming to harm. Hearing this, Shepard shook his head, blown away, "No wonder you hated it there. Those bastards just let him fly away." Garrus was in accordance with Shepard, explaining his desire to take out the guy behind it all, regardless of the cost. Hearing the case C-Sec made though, gave Shepard pause. He recalled his experience with Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver, and what would happen if he had to make a choice; take out the villain, or keep people alive. He wasn't sure. But he knew he couldn't let himself fall down the pit of revenge again. "I guess I can see both sides. Couldn't have been an easy choice either way." Shepard said, pensively. Garrus nodded, "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish I could have stopped him, that's all." Garrus then explained how he saw Dr. Saleon resurface. The salarian changed his name to Dr. Heart and acquired a new ship. Garrus even tracked the signal of the ship to specific coordinates, but had no one and no resources with which to check it out. Shepard saw this as a chance to exact some true justice, and to help out his friend. "Give me the coordinates, I'll check it out." Garrus was appreciative, "Thank you. But Commander, I'd like to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at Garrus, "You will." Shepard despised the thought that this monster escaped scot free. He knew he needed to help Garrus take him down. Such is what honor and justice would demand. Not only this, but Garrus was his friend. Shepard wanted to help him. Shepard then proceeded to Wrex, who remained leaning on the cargo container. Wrex seemed preoccupied with something, Shepard sensed. Wrex eyed the Commander as he approached, "What do you want, Shepard?" Shepard was curious about Wrex's origins. Where he came from, why he did what he did. "Why did you become a mercenary, Wrex?" The krogan answered in his flat way, "Lots of reasons." Shepard cocked a brow, "Such as?" Wrex responded saying that he needed to eat, survive, and also leave his system. Shepard was curious about this. Wrex seemed to care about the fate of his people, and he also held to a rare honor that Shepard respected greatly. Shepard figured that Wrex could even make a good leader. "Why didn't you stay and help your people?" Wrex eyed Shepard, "I did try to help. That's why I had to leave." Shepard didn't understand, asking him to explain. Wrex began to talk about how he was at the head of a tribe years back. Wrex and his tribe were beholden to another, more powerful krogan warlord named Jarrod who felt that war was more important than anything else, exacting revenge for the genophage and earning glory. Wrex however, was different, telling Jarrod and other warlords to forget about war, and instead focusing on replenishing their numbers that continued dropping due to the genophage. Though his message caught on, Wrex explained that the warlord Jarrod, his father, betrayed him and murdered most of his tribe at what was supposed to be a neutral meeting. Wrex then discussed grimly how he took his own father's life that day. Shepard was amazed but also taken aback. Wrex's own father sought his son's death, and all to pursue war instead of the betterment of their species. Shepard felt immense sympathy for Wrex, for he wanted to do the right thing, and was punished for it. Regardless, Shepard still saw in Wrex a drive, a fierce power that if kindled, just might be able to make a difference for many krogan. Shepard became curious about Wrex's other family, "There must be some family you have back home that you miss." Wrex seemed somewhat amused by the inquiry, "You trying to make me cry, Shepard?" Wrex said. The grim krogan then explained he did have some unfinished business with his family, but apparently nothing worth discussing. Shepard didn't back down, though. He wanted to hear out all his crew's concerns, needs, and feelings. Especially those he considered his friends and he did indeed see Wrex as a friend, grim attitude not-withstanding. "What kind of business?" Wrex seemed hesitant as he began explaining an oath he made to his grandfather, to recover a set of old krogan armor that functioned as a relic of his family, worn by many warriors of his family. It was acquired by turian war profiteers following the Krogan Rebellions however. Shepard listened, as Wrex explained how he managed to track the armor to a certain system, but the trail went cold for him there. Shepard did not hesitate as he proposed, "Just tell me where to start looking, Wrex. I'll find your armor." Wrex seemed surprised almost, but not in a very expressable way, krogan are hard to read. "I'll upload the data to your computer. But Shepard, I want to be there when you find him." Shepard nodded at him, "Of course, Wrex." Shepard saw how well Wrex disguised his sentiments, but he could feel in the way Wrex discussed the armor that it held value to him, not monetary, but sentimental, the value of honor. Shepard knew that he wanted to help Wrex recover it. Shepard then proceeded into engineering where he once again approached Tali, who seemed hard at work. She was very receptive to him as she turned to face him. "Shepard! I'm glad you're here." Shepard couldn't help but smile, she seemed to have become comfortable with the idea of being less formal with him, and of course, she was in far better spirits today. This made Shepard feel happy. "Glad to see you smiling again. So to speak." Shepard said. Tali's eyes smiled at him as she explained, "I'm sleeping much better now, I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is." Tali then mentioned how her thoughts remained with her pilgrimage, and how she continued hoping to find something useful to bring back to the quarian fleet, with all the worlds they visit. Tali explained to Shepard how a lot was expected of her, due to her status as the daughter of one of the Admirals of the quarian fleet - so many of her people depended on him, and she was his only child. Shepard was impressed. "That's quite a lot of pressure placed on you, then." Tali was in agreement, and she began to reminisce about her upbringing being the Admiral's only daughter. She described how he was a military man, strict, striving for excellence in all things, and expecting the same of his daughter. However, Tali lamented the fact that her father seemed so disconnected at times, removed emotionally and physically from his family. Though, Tali did not resent him at all, she understood his responsibilities and how they occupied almost all his waking thoughts. Shepard asked Tali about her mother, and she explained that her mother was around and was a loving wife and parent, but tended to exist in the background around her father. In addition, Tali's mother fell to illness not so long prior. Thus, Tali was essentially left with her father. Shepard understood. He lost his parents at very early an age, and the feeling of essentially being alone was not unfamiliar to him. But yet in Tali he saw such a kind and yet, powerful person, that only needed to be unlocked. Shepard wondered for a moment if he would ever see it. Yet, he refocused. As their conversation returned to Tali's pilgrimage, Shepard asked, "What kind of gift do you think would make everyone happy?" Tali explained that she didn't just want to find a gift that would ingratiate herself, but one that would benefit all of quarian society. What she wanted was to find the secrets of the geth, their operating systems, how they work, their memories. Finding this data, Tali explained, could be a defining discovery that could help the quarians achieve their species' goal for centuries - reclaiming their homeworld from the geth. Shepard understood this was a lofty goal, but if it could be done, he would like to help. He didn't necessarily have a stake in the fight, but above anything else, he wanted to help his friend. "I'll look for this geth data, Tali. If it's out there, I'll find it." Tali seemed very pleased, "Thank you...but I don't want this to get in the way of our mission, Shepard. First we deal with Saren, then I'll worry about my own problems." Shepard nodded at her, and they took their leave of each other. Shepard could see in Tali a sweet and kind girl, but one possessed of immense mental strength. She was unafraid and determined to change her world, and to help carve a new path for her people. Something Shepard respected immensely. He cared about her as a friend, he wanted to see her succeed. Shepard knew that if recovering geth data was what would be best for her pilgrimage, he would do it. Shepard's first objective was to track down Dr. Heart for Garrus. The navdata that Garrus supplied to Shepard indicated that the infamous salarian "doctor" was located in the Herschel System of the Kepler Verge. Knowing this, Shepard ordered the Normandy to head to that system. Once they entered the Herschel System, they traveled at FTL speeds and performed frequent scans of system. Shepard was on alert, looking for any sign of the doctor's ship. Finally, the scanners located a human-style cargo ship orbiting a nearby planet. Shepard ordered the Normandy to dock with the freighter. As they docked, he read on the side of the freighter: MSV Fedele. When Shepard asked Garrus about the name, his turian friend informed him that the name checked out. As Garrus requested, Shepard decided to take Garrus along, ordering him to suit up and get ready to board. Anticipating trouble, Shepard also chose Wrex to accompany him - after all, a krogan would come in very handy if they ran into a tight spot. Once his boarding party was ready, Shepard and the team went aboard the Fedele. As they passed through the sterile, eerily quiet passageways of the ship, Shepard, Garrus and Wrex were all very alert. They heard thumping and soft groaning in the chamber ahead. Shepard opened the door seal and they entered carefully. Suddenly, they were set upon by creatures that were barely visible in the poorly lit chamber. They roared and groaned, and charged Shepard and his team. Shepard gave the order to open fire, and the creatures were cut down one at a time, until the chamber was empty. Looking down at one of the corpses, Shepard and his team examined it; a humanoid, stitched and cut, missing various parts of its body. "Looks like Dr. Saleon has been experimenting. Mn. It's gruesome." Garrus said, in a low voice. As Shepard looked upon the desecrated humanoid, he was beyond sickened. He had seen many things in his years, but a person, likely an innocent, butchered in such a way - Saleon was a monster, and had to be stopped. That would be justice. But his mind turned to his vengeance on Dhar'sok Goral, the batarian slaver who killed his family. Was that justice? Maybe. But Goral begged and pleaded, even as Shepard took his life. He wasn't sure anymore. It felt good at the time but...that was not justice. That was hate. Shepard then realized - he couldn't take this person's life out of hate. Nor should Garrus. He would show mercy. Because that sets them above the monsters like Saleon, and Goral. Refocusing on the situation at hand, Shepard and his team moved on, and quite literally the next chamber down, the door opened, and Shepard came face to face with a decrepit old Salarian with a strange face, and doctor's clothes. He must have been hiding from the creatures in the previous room. The salarian spoke quickly as they entered the chamber, "Oh, thank you so much for saving me from those monsters!" Suddenly, Garrus spoke. "Commander, that's him. That's Dr. Saleon." The salarian retorted immediately, "What? No! My name is Heart! Dr. Heart!" Shepard furrowed his brow, narrowing his eyes at the salarian. He turned his head towards Garrus. "You're sure it's him?" Garrus nodded, his voice grim. "Positive." The turian looked to Saleon and snarled, "I'd harvest your organs first, Saleon, but we don't have the time." The salarian doctor spoke frantically, telling Shepard that Garrus was crazy, and pleading to the Commander to let him go. Shepard's eyes remained narrowed. He made his decision. This wouldn't go down like it did on Torfan. Shepard spoke calmly, "We'll take him in." Garrus turned rapidly, in disbelief, "But Commander, we have him!" Shepard turned to Garrus and looked him straight in the eyes. "I know. And we'll hand him over to the military." Garrus pushed back, "Shepard, we can't just let him live, after all he's done!" Shepard attempted to reassure Garrus. "Think, Garrus. If we end him here and now, we'll never figure out how he did it, or all the other crimes he's committed. We'll take him in. He'll do his time, and he'll be punished." Garrus tried to say more but seemed to concede. "I...you're right, Commander." Garrus turned to Saleon, giving him another death glare. "You're a VERY lucky salarian. You owe the Commander your life." The salarian doctor seemed to crack a wicked, scheming smirk. His voice slithered like a snake, "Ohh, thank you so much, Commander..." Just then, the salarian flinched, reaching behind and grabbing hold of his pistol, and, though clumsily, he took aim at Shepard quite quickly. Wrex bellowed out, "Gun!" Like a flash, Shepard drew his own pistol, faster than the blink of an eye. A bang and a smoking hole in the salarian's head was testament to the Commander's quick-drawing skill. The butcher, Dr. Saleon, fell to the floor like a tree. Garrus looked at the dead body of Saleon, and turned to Shepard. "...And he dies anyway. What was the point of that?" Shepard holstered his pistol, and turned to Garrus. "You can't always predict how people will act, Garrus. But what you can do is control how you behave in the situation. That's what counts." Garrus seemed to mull it over for a second, coming to an understanding, "Yeah...huh. You know, I don't think I've ever met someone like you before, Commander." Shepard smiled at Garrus. He was making an impression on his turian friend. Which was good. Garrus had the makings of an excellent soldier and leader, he just needed to calm his impulses. Shepard had to learn this the hard way; his cold-blooded slaying of Goral, how he was almost court-martialed. Anderson taught him much, and he hoped to impart some of that wisdom onto Garrus as well. With the job accomplished, Shepard and his team departed the butcher's ship and returned to the Normandy. ... (continuation of Garrus and Wrex stories) ==== Noveria ==== The Normandy's next mission was to scope out the icy world of Noveria, in the Pax System of the Horse Head Nebula. Shepard had received intel that Saren's top advisor, the asari Matriarch Benezia, was spotted somewhere near the port of Hanshan. Noveria was a corporation world, run and operated by some of the biggest names in the galaxy. Though Shepard's mission would be taking him right under the nose of the corporations there, he thought it best to avoid an incident, and steer clear of them. As the Normandy entered Noveria's atmosphere and they headed to Port Hanshan to dock, Joker requested permission to land. The Port Hanshan security was defensive, stating that a visit from an Alliance vessel was unexpected, and their defense batteries were trained on the Normandy. Joker clarified that a Spectre was on board, they were on Council business. This seemed to make the Port security comply, but they stated that if proper identification could not be produced, their vessel would be impounded. "What a nice bunch. Maybe I'll take my next leave here." Joker said, turning to Shepard, who half-smiled. Shepard returned to the CIC, where he began putting together his team. Shepard's intel stated that geth were involved in this situation along with Benezia, and if they managed to bring in geth without alerting security, he needed his expert - he chose Tali. Shepard expected heavy resistance around Benezia, and so he immediately thought to take Wrex. Shepard, Tali and Wrex disembarked the Normandy, and moved through the docking bay to the main port entrance, where they were met with a security detail led by a woman named Kaira Stirling. The security asked Shepard to verify his Spectre status. "You heard right. I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre, here on Council business." Though they accepted his verification, they desired more, "You will be required to surrender your weapons." Kaira Stirling stated, and when the other security moved closer to claim their weapons, Shepard raised his pistol, and his squad followed suit. Tali aimed her shotgun at the security that moved for her, "I don't think that's a good idea." Shepard stared Stirling down, stating with cool resolve, "Nobody takes my weapon." At that, the Stirling began counting down for them to surrender their weapons, or else they would fire. Shepard did not back down, and neither did Tali and Wrex. He could not be more proud to call these two his friends. Shepard was fully prepared for a shootout, but before the countdown could be completed, a voice over the intercom ordered the officer to stand down. Reluctantly, the security did so, and allowed Shepard passage, but warned him they would be watching. Shepard didn't care. The mission was more important than their paranoia. As they progressed through the processing area, the weapon detectors were tripped, and Shepard eyed the detectors, mechanical implements obviously there to determine dangerous hardware. He thought it strange that if geth were here, that they could pass this. Perhaps the intel was wrong, but Shepard wouldn't know until he proceeds. Just then a woman appeared from the office behind the security desk, telling the Commander not to worry about the detectors. As Shepard spoke to her, she revealed herself to be Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs, and secretary to one Mr. Anoleis. representative of the Executive Board of Noveria, and Administrator of Port Hanshan. She told him about how the corporations on Noveria don't take kindly to people, even Spectres, meddling in their affairs. Shepard assured her he had no interest in corporate secrets. Instead, he inquired about Matriarch Benezia. Gianna did indeed recall Benezia passing through Port Hanshan, on her way to a facility called Peak 15. Now having this confirmed, Shepard knew that he could waste no time. "Then that's where I need to be." Miss Parasini also informed Shepard of where he could find Mr. Anoleis, who could give them a permit to use a vehicle and ride out to Peak 15. Shepard had all the information he needed. He turned as he ordered his squad to prepare to move out, but Tali asked for a word with him, "Shepard, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shepard looked at her with genuine concern, "Of course. What is it?" Tali whispered it to Shepard, she wasn't sure it would be good if people heard, "If Benezia is here...perhaps Liara should come. Maybe seeing her will make the Matriarch decide to stand down." Shepard always admired Tali's insight and cleverness. "Alright, Tali. That sounds like a good idea." Shepard turned to find Wrex standing directly behind him, looking him in the eye. "You guys mean for me to go back, huh?" Shepard was rather embarrassed, "Hm. Sorry, buddy. I need Tali here if we're going up against geth." Wrex nodded his head. "No sure, I understand. Deny me a good fight." Wrex turned away to head back to the Normandy. Shepard called to him, "We'll find you some fights later, Wrex!" The krogan grumbled loudly in response. After a few minutes Liara entered the security area fully equipped and ready to move. With that, Shepard gave the order for them to move out. As Shepard and his squad moved onward further into Port Hanshan, they came upon an elevator which took them down to the main floor. While here, Liara addressed the elephant in the room. "Commander, I'm sure you want to talk to me...about my mother. You might not be sure you can trust me..." Shepard turned to Liara and reassured her, "It's alright, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. I trust you." Liara seemed relieved, she smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Commander. That means a lot to me." Shepard was not just saying that, he could see in Liara that she was genuine, she cared for her mother but also refused to stand with her, aligned with the madness of Saren. Liara could have refused to come, Shepard thought, and she didn't. He knew she wanted to make this right. He hoped that would be enough. As the elevator came to a halt, Shepard and his squad arrived at the main floor of Port Hanshan, a stony interior plaza that, despite its heating, felt cold. Almost as cold as the snowy blizzard that raged outside. Shepard followed Parasini's directions to the office of the Mr. Anoleis. They passed through a few doors and reached the lobby, where, to Shepard's surprise, Parasini was waiting there for them. He didn't dwell on his confusion, he had a job to do. "I'll need to speak to Mr. Anoleis." Parasini nodded, and called Mr. Anoleis from her desk. The man spoke frantically over the intercom, displeased by being bothered. Regardless, Shepard needed to see him. Reluctantly, Anoleis granted Shepard an audience. Entering the room, Mr. Anoleis, a salarian, greeted Shepard with disdain, and what bordered on lack of cooperation. Shepard didn't have it. "In case you didn't realize, I'm a Spectre. And I'm not here to spy on your corporations." Anoleis explained that he knew who Shepard was, only a fool would not know who they're meeting, he reasoned. Shepard began inquiring about Matriarch Benezia. Anoleis continued to be short with Shepard, giving only tidbits of information. He confirmed that Benezia did indeed leave for Peak 15, with cargo and an escort. Shepard needed to know more, "What's this cargo? And what escort?" Anoleis answered with disinterest that he didn't know. "It passed weapons screening, beyond that it is not my concern." As for her escort, Anoleis insisted that executors acting in the name of others, in this case Saren, are allowed armed escorts. Shepard then expressed his desire to head out to Peak 15, but Anoleis claimed it was impossible, with the blizzard. In addition, Anoleis made it more difficult by saying he had far more important things to do than give Shepard a pass to use the garage. Shepard resisted every urge to flip the man's table on to him. In response to Anoleis' words, Tali shook her head and turned to Shepard, "Let him be stubborn, Shepard. I'm sure there's someone else around here that can help us." Shepard was calmed by Tali's words, he simmered down and looked to her, nodding. "You're right." He turned back to Anoleis, "We're moving on." Anoleis passive-aggressively remarked about how he received numerous important notifications during the 'pointless' conversation. Shepard and his squad headed back out of the office, when Parasini got Shepard's attention, muttering, "Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan." Hearing Parasini's words, Shepard carefully approached her desk. "So, who else would have a pass?" Parasini lowered her voice to a whisper, and informed the Commander of a turian named Lorik Qui'in, manager of the Synthetic Insights office there in Port Hanshan. Shepard was appreciative of Parasini's help, and with that, he and his squad departed the Administrator's office and moved into Port Hanshan proper. Shepard followed Miss Parasini's directions of where Lorik would be found, heading to the nearby club bar. Taking the elevator, they reached the bar only to be confronted immediately with the infamous corporate espionage agents. Shepard had to forcefully turn one away, and others seemed to steer clear of him. Shepard was not about to have his mission be hindered by bickering business-people, and would never compromise his honor dealing with them. Finally, Shepard and the squad came before a surly turian sitting on his own and looking down on his luck. "Lorik Qui'in?" Shepard inquired. The turian responded in the affirmative. Shepard explained that he would need the turian's help getting out of Port Hanshan. Fortunately Lorik knew exactly what Shepard needed and was willing to cooperate. However, he did want a service done for him as well. Shepard had come to expect this - nothing was free, much less so here. Lorik explained that he had uncovered evidence of Administrator Anoleis' corruption - bribe-taking and other offenses. Lorik continued that Anoleis had discovered this and shut him down, accusing Lorik of corruption. Moreover, Anoleis was paying Noveria Security under the table to do his dirty work. Lorik came to the point, he wanted his data recovered on Anoleis from his office. He warned Shepard however, that violence might be necessary. Shepard was not perturbed. "If he's paying them under the table, they're just mercenaries. I can kill mercenaries." Shepard had no hesitation. He would go to any length to help innocent people and even those who fight because the alternative is worse. However, he had absolutely no problem taking down scum that killed for money. Regardless, reason was always priority one. Lorik was pleased to hear this. With this taken care of, Shepard and his squad moved on to the Synthetic Insights office. Shepard, Tali and Liara arrived at the Synthetic Insights building, where they were immediately met by Anoleis' thugs watching the door. They ordered Shepard and the team to halt, refusing them entry. Shepard was not swayed, "It would be best for you all to stand down." Shepard then questioned if Anoleis knew they were there. The mercenaries defensively claimed that they were allowed to be there. Shepard did not compromise nor budge an inch, and it seemed to affect the mercenaries. They threatened him that they would open fire, but he did not move. Finally, the mercs began their attack and Shepard responded swiftly, as did his squad. The mercs were disposed of quickly, and Shepard and the team moved into Lorik's office, where Shepard downloaded Lorik's data from the computer. On the way out they were confronted by Kaira Stirling and several more paid guards. Stirling remarked at how Shepard was a nuisance, and that the evidence he collected would not get out. She also described Shepard as a cop-killer for having killed the mercs prior. Tali did not have it, and remarked how Stirling was not a real cop, just a corrupt, paid-for mercenary. Stirling regardless stated they wouldn't be allowed to leave, and a shootout ensued between Shepard and the squad versus Stirling and her men. Skill and teamwork won the contest, as Shepard and his squad dispatched the corrupt guards and left the building. As Shepard and his team exited the elevator out, they were met with Parasini again, who seemed to have an inkling of what went down at the Synthetic Insights building. She asked for Shepard to meet her prior to speaking to Qui'in. Reluctantly, Shepard agreed. As they moved back to the club bar, Shepard and the team approached Parasini, who revealed that there was an investigation against Anoleis, and they needed Qui'in's evidence and testimony to deal with Anoleis. Shepard seemed skeptical, he didn't have a dog in this fight, but Parasini's passionate feelings against Anoleis, combined with Liara's convincing, helped him see that something ought to be done. Shepard agreed, much to Parasini's pleasure. Shepard approached Qui'in and informed him that his testimony was needed to take down Anoleis. Qui'in was even more skeptical than Shepard, and feared for his standing as a businessman, he didn't want trouble. It took some convincing, and Tali provided the strongest persuasive force by explaining that the Administrative Board was already investigating Anoleis, and Qui'in would be the catalyst for getting it done. Shepard added, "You'll be a hero." Finally, Qui'in agreed to testify, and honored his end of the bargain by giving Shepard his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Shepard returned to the Administrative office to tell Parasini the news, and she was very pleased. She then moved to arrest Anoleis, who was taken away. Pleased that the business was concluded, Shepard and his squad focused on their true mission; tracking down Matriarch Benezia, who was at Peak 15. With the garage pass, they could take a vehicle out into the blizzard to find her. Shepard and the squad moved into the garage area. Granted access by the guard thanks to the pass, they entered the parking chamber to acquire a vehicle, but they were quickly set upon by a geth ambush. Shepard ordered his team into firing positions, and thanks to skill and tactical superiority, the geth ambush was defeated. Shepard realized that these geth were likely left behind by Benezia in order to halt any effort to pursue her. Tali remarked on how the geth must have been packed into the cargo that Benezia and her guards were carrying. A few moments later, guards arrived and questioned what happened. "The geth attacked, we fought back and destroyed them. That's really all there is to it." He said, shortly. He was rather annoyed with their inability to realize that geth were in their midst. The security leader seemed confused about how geth could be outside the Perseus Veil, and she questioned what could have been going on with them. Tali responded, "The same thing that happens with all species...evolution." Shepard spoke commandingly, "Now you know what to look for. You should make sure this doesn't happen again." With that, Shepard and the squad entered an unused Mako in the garage and departed from the front doors, leaving Port Hanshan behind and pushing onward into the fierce blizzard, for the facility Peak 15. (continuation of Noveria narrative) ... == Personality == Victor Shepard was a soldier through and through, in mind, body, and soul. Even from a young age, Shepard displayed the telltale traits of a leader and a warrior. Shepard was no stranger to hard, down and dirty work, his many years on the family farm giving him an appreciation and value for work worth doing. Shepard's relative isolation on his farm forced him to grow up self-sufficient and independent. He grew up on Mindoir with very few friends. However, the friends he did grow up with were close as kin. After the batarian raid on Mindoir, and watching the deaths of his parents and his few friends, Shepard, for better or worse, took their deaths upon his shoulders. Shepard reasoned that if he were strong enough, he would have been able to save them. This is a mindset that remained throughout Shepard's life - that he should do all in his power to save people in need, be they friends or strangers. This very mindset is what compelled Shepard to join the Naval Marines, and then the N7 program. Shepard's determination, fortitude, and strength were honed to a precise edge, making him one of the finest soldiers ever seen in the Earth Systems Alliance's history. Though Shepard felt the deep desire to help people and to make a difference for the better in the universe, he remained closed off. He feared making friends only to lose them. He remained disinclined to interact with people, becoming nicknamed "The Lone Wolf". Though he did his absolute best in every mission he was given, and never shied away from helping others, Shepard had little interest in recognition, renown, or being a center of attention. Shepard was good at heart and well-intentioned at the core, but his isolated personality made Shepard believe that he alone could handle any problem. He began to feel that he knew best, and none would dissuade him from what he believed was the right action. For a few years, Shepard was consumed by the desire for vengeance. This pursuit led to his tracking down of the batarian warlord responsible for the massacre on Mindoir, Dhar'sok Goral, in violation of orders from his superiors. Though he acknowledged the honor in following the regulations of the Navy, he felt his personal vendetta was more important. Had he been allowed to continue this path, Shepard might well have fallen from his better morals, becoming consumed by anger. However, Captain David Anderson's intervention in Shepard's life acted as a guiding and stabilizing force. For the years that Anderson mentored Shepard, the older officer imparted wisdom and discipline into him, helping to calm the wild wolf within Shepard. Thanks to Anderson, Shepard was refined from a great soldier with rogue tendencies, to an excellent soldier with a steady mind and calm heart. ... == Relationships == '''George Shepard''' - '''Anne Shepard''' - '''Garrus Vakarian''' - '''Tali'Zorah nar Rayya''' - '''Urdnot Wrex''' - '''Liara T'Soni''' - '''David Anderson''' - '''Kaidan Alenko''' - '''Ashley Williams''' - '''Jeff "Joker" Moreau''' - '''Miranda Lawson''' - '''EDI''' - '''Mordin Solus''' - '''Grunt''' - '''Samara''' - '''Thane Krios''' - '''Legion''' - '''Jack''' - '''Zaeed Massani''' - '''Kasumi Goto''' - '''James Vega''' - '''Samantha Traynor''' - '''Steven Hackett''' - '''The Illusive Man''' - == Talents and Equipment == == Accomplishments and Feats == 18c39ca8e026ff6f8ff121589aaf779bb2b50380 6 16 175 2022-06-29T18:15:14Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki da39a3ee5e6b4b0d3255bfef95601890afd80709 0 17 176 2022-06-29T18:20:03Z Weetlebeex 30587485 Created page with "[[File:307EA300-9180-49BB-9740-BEACBC3AF110.jpeg|thumb]] Jane Shepard (Universe 2), also known as Jane, Commander Shepard, and the Red Fox, was a highly decorated and legenda..." wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:307EA300-9180-49BB-9740-BEACBC3AF110.jpeg|thumb]] Jane Shepard (Universe 2), also known as Jane, Commander Shepard, and the Red Fox, was a highly decorated and legendary human soldier that served across numerous battlefields and campaigns, including most notably, the conflict against the Reapers. The first human spectre, and the most formidable soldier in galactic history, Jane Shepard was uncompromising, fierce, and tenacious, with a penchant for defying authority and solving problems with sheer force. 633a719c5202adeaac0cb66d4004f92fed46f66f 177 176 2022-06-29T18:28:20Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:307EA300-9180-49BB-9740-BEACBC3AF110.jpeg|thumb]] Jane Shepard (Universe 2), also known as Jane, Commander Shepard, and the Red Fox, was a highly decorated and legendary human soldier that served across numerous battlefields and campaigns, including most notably, the conflict against the Reapers. The first human spectre, and the most formidable soldier in galactic history, Jane Shepard was uncompromising, fierce, and tenacious, with a penchant for defying authority and solving problems with sheer force. A strong woman, and a bitch, Jane Shepard was nonetheless a highly capable and ferocious warrior who relentlessly pursued her goals to the very end. Though she was fiery and rude, Jane was tamed by Jacob Taylor, who broke out his big nigger cock and put her in her place, underneath his black nuts. Though she choked on that negro alpha’s big black anaconda many, many, many times during their relationship, and got her womb stretched out by his bitchbreaker, he still ended up cheating on her following the Collector conflict - and despite this, Jane still loved him with all her being. 6a7b0df4dce64eed24241136a054575ad310d0f0 179 177 2022-06-29T18:32:41Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:307EA300-9180-49BB-9740-BEACBC3AF110.jpeg|thumb]] Jane Shepard (Universe 2), also known as Jane, Commander Shepard, and the Red Fox, was a highly decorated and legendary human soldier that served across numerous battlefields and campaigns, including most notably, the conflict against the Reapers. The first human spectre, and the most formidable soldier in galactic history, Jane Shepard was uncompromising, fierce, and tenacious, with a penchant for defying authority and solving problems with sheer force. A strong woman, and a bitch, Jane Shepard was nonetheless a highly capable and ferocious warrior who relentlessly pursued her goals to the very end. Though she was fiery and rude, Jane was tamed by Jacob Taylor. … == History == bb414a2a3fea20ae6a16885854b551b867b705c4 180 179 2022-06-29T18:33:42Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:307EA300-9180-49BB-9740-BEACBC3AF110.jpeg|thumb]] Jane Shepard (Universe 2), also known as Jane, Commander Shepard, and the Red Fox, was a highly decorated and legendary human soldier that served across numerous battlefields and campaigns, including most notably, the conflict against the Reapers. The first human spectre, and the most formidable soldier in galactic history, Jane Shepard was uncompromising, fierce, and tenacious, with a penchant for defying authority and solving problems with sheer force. A strong woman, and a bitch, Jane Shepard was nonetheless a highly capable and ferocious warrior who relentlessly pursued her goals to the very end. Though she was fiery and rude, Jane was tamed by Jacob Taylor. … == History == … == Personality and Skills == [[File:A2C51268-DBF8-469C-83FF-565C46FD2064.jpeg|thumb]] … 8e93be2b52b4e3a4fa459e7a17524b594228f5ac 181 180 2022-06-29T19:15:04Z Weetlebeex 30587485 /* Personality and Skills */ wikitext text/x-wiki [[File:307EA300-9180-49BB-9740-BEACBC3AF110.jpeg|thumb]] Jane Shepard (Universe 2), also known as Jane, Commander Shepard, and the Red Fox, was a highly decorated and legendary human soldier that served across numerous battlefields and campaigns, including most notably, the conflict against the Reapers. The first human spectre, and the most formidable soldier in galactic history, Jane Shepard was uncompromising, fierce, and tenacious, with a penchant for defying authority and solving problems with sheer force. A strong woman, and a bitch, Jane Shepard was nonetheless a highly capable and ferocious warrior who relentlessly pursued her goals to the very end. Though she was fiery and rude, Jane was tamed by Jacob Taylor. … == History == … == Personality and Skills == [[File:A2C51268-DBF8-469C-83FF-565C46FD2064.jpeg|thumb]] Shepard was a woman with a fiery temper. Though she maintained a rather level head in most scenarios, she was prone to ire and anger. Her strict and uncompromising upbringing granted her an outlook of accomplishing her goals at any cost - noble perhaps, but she had little to no qualms about squashing anyone in her way. Jane was a fitness buff, literally. Utterly mission oriented, when she wasn’t planning or executing a mission, she’d often be found exercising; running, lifting weights, pullups, and everything in between. Thanks to this hard work, Shepard developed a strong and muscular body that was the envy of many other soldiers she encountered. Shepard was not much of a softie at all, rarely showing emotion and hardly getting attached to other comrades on a deep level. That said, Jane had an incredible lust for black men seemingly devoid of emotion. She saw them as superior to white men in every way and absolutely never touched nor allowed any white man to touch her. Meanwhile, rumors existed that she sucked off and had sex with every single black man present at her boot camp. This lust of hers continued into her soldier and Spectre life, especially after meeting Jacob Taylor. da0355e0e9a20997676b6279259df5bbcb385f8b 6 18 178 2022-06-29T18:30:53Z Weetlebeex 30587485 wikitext text/x-wiki da39a3ee5e6b4b0d3255bfef95601890afd80709